Because of Books
by Aquarianis
Summary: A humanstuck fanfiction revolving around Eridan and Sollux. It's all because of a forgotten book that they had a chance meeting in the library. Rated M for erisol
1. Eridan: The Library

This is my first fanfiction ever, so please excuse the cheesy and cliche happenings!

Anyway, I hope you get a kick out of it.

Humanstuck EridanxSollux

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The library was deserted, a young man strolled through the aisles, relishing in the peace. He sighed and pushed his thick glasses up his slender nose, his violet eyes searching for a new book to read.

Eridan Ampora was approaching the end of his college course; he had chosen to follow his passion for the arts instead of a more academic pursuit. Eridan believed that his father had encouraged him to go, purely for the sake of having him out of the way.

Eridan was twenty one years old, and he honestly had no idea where his life was headed. He was having an existential crisis, and believed that the books he so loved would hold the answers he so desperately seeked.

As he picked up a particularly battered leather-bound book, he heard the 'fwump' of the heavy front doors being opened behind him. Eridan had tried to ignore the fact that his peaceful abode had been invaded; but now his head was filled with the sounds of a pair of feet plodding around, he grit his teeth as the shoes scuffed across the floor.

It was infuriating that his silence was being ruined by this idiot. How _dare_ this person interupt Eridan while he was on his soul-finding, life-altering mission!? Eridan closed his eyes and gently placed the book he was holding back on the shelf. His hands shook as he heard the intruder _talking_ to the librarian. The final straw was when the despicable cretin began to _whistle_ as he walked through the aisles.

Eridan's eyes snapped open, and he spun around to face the destroyer of solitude, the bringer of irritation, the wreaker of havok, the...

Young man who was stood behind him looking at a rather large book. He was slightly taller than Eridan, but looked as if he weighed half as much. He had a mess of dark hair, and he wore loose fitting clothes and... _Sunglasses_?

Eridan's lip pulled up on one side in a disbelieving sneer. What a pompous fool this young man must be, wearing _sunglasses_ inside!

It was at that moment Eridan recognised the man that stood in front of him.


	2. Sollux: The Library

Here goes nothing! Chapter 2!

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Sollux Captor was nearing the end of his college course. He had chosen a course in computer engineering as this was his passion, and as far as he knew, the only thing he was good at. He had loved this course in the past, but had now grown frustrated with the work.

He stretched himself out on the beanbag he had been asleep on, his back popped and cracked in response. He let out an exasperated noise, and pulled himself up to look at his reflection in the full length mirror on the wall next to him.

Sollux was a tall, young man. The baggy clothes he wore hid his scrawny figure; and because his height made him look much thinner than he actually was, he looked as if he had been stretched out. He looked down at his reflection's hands, his long, slender fingers clenched into fists. Sollux forced his gaze upward to his head; he had dark brown hair that stuck out at the back and sides, and always looked a bit dishevelled.

He hated his face, all because of those damn eyes. The right was a warm brown and the left was a cold blue. Sollux reached for the sunglasses he wore to hide his disgusting stare. He hated himself, and he hated his stupid freak eyes.

He turned his back on his reflection, and began looking around for his laptop. After checking his desk and computer chair, he saw the corner of it poking out from under his bed. As Sollux lifted it out, he saw what had been underneath.

It was a book all about bacteria and decomposition.

Sollux's stomach sank as a memory from only a few months ago replayed in his head.

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_Aradia sat on Sollux's bed, her wild and curly hair splayed all around her, her knees brought up to her chest. She had a very large book resting against them, and her full attention was on it._

_Sollux watched her read; he loved the way Aradia's nose crinkled and her eyebrows furrowed when she concentrated like this. _

_She glanced up and met his gaze, her red lips curling upwards in a playful smile. "Sollux dear, I cannot study for my exams if you keep distracting me. How am I supposed to read when you're watching me with that look of puppy love plastered across your face?"_

_"You're cute when you read." Was his only response, and he turned away with a smile ghosting his own lips._

_Aradia laughed and pushed the book under the bed, she leant over and placed a gentle kiss on Sollux's cheek, "well, you're always cute." She said softly._

_They had gone out to dinner together after that, the book lay forgotten under the bed. That's where it stayed, even after they had broken up two nights later._

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Sollux had never moved the book, he had kept it in the hope that she would come back to him.

His fingers traced the letters on the book's cover, and on a whim he opened it to the first page where he saw yesterdays date. He hadn't realised that it was a library book, that must have been why Aradia hadn't come back for it. Sollux's head buzzed with the hope that if he was to text her about the book being late, it could start a conversation, maybe he could ask her out for coffee? What if he took the book back to the library himself? He could let her know that he saved her from the late fees, and she'd be thankful, right?

Sollux knew he was being abnormally optimistic, and he knew none of that was true, but he didn't want Aradia to get billed for the late fees that he could have prevented. He reluctantly threw on a pair of scruffy converse, picked up the large book and left his apartment.

He only lived about 20 minutes away from the library, but he hated leaving his apartment for anything other than food. He took a moment to breathe and get himself psyched, then he started walking towards his destination.

After only walking for 15 minutes, Sollux arrived at the library. He reached out his hand towards the doors, but hesitated. He stared at the wood as anxiety bubbled up from the depths of his stomach, leaving a bitter taste at the back of his throat. After a minute frozen in this position, he regained a small amount of confidence and pushed the heavy doors open.

The subtle smell of old books hung in the air, but Sollux could hardly notice it over the suffocating silence. He stepped inside and allowed the doors to close behind him.

Sollux scanned the room for the reception desk, and as he did, he noted that the library was almost deserted. He noticed a desk with a young lady sat at it, and he tentatively walked over, gripping the book to his chest.

Sollux was very conscious of how loud his footsteps sounded.

His heart hammered as he approached the desk; the young woman looked up and smiled. She had above shoulder-length black hair, and her lips and eyelashes were the same shade of blue as her eyes. There was a badge on the front of her dress that said 'Aranea'.

Sollux awkwardly thrust the book towards her, "it might be late," he managed to force out. Aranea continued to smile as she scanned the book, "it says here that a miss Aradia withdrew this book, so I can only assume that you are doing a good deed in returning it. So I'll let you off this time," She said playfully.

Sollux didn't really know what to do or say, he stood completely still biting his bottom lip. After a moment's hesitation he said, "well, then I'll put the book back for you. Uhh, I, thank you." He picked up the book, and looked around stupidly. Aranea giggled, "well, I can't refuse an offer like that! That book should go in the blue section, over by that young man. Thanks." She leaned forwards and flashed a wide smile.

They both turned towards the slim young man on the other end of the library. He had his back to them.

Sollux nodded, and started walking in the direction of the man, he tried to look for another route between the book aisles, but failed. He swallowed, and made his way over to the shelf behind the guy. In an attempt to convince himself and the two other people in the library that he wasn't scared of this possibility of human interaction, he whistled a quiet tune to himself.

Sollux found himself looking at the man; he had short, dark brown hair, and a slim build. His trousers were tight fitting. Very tight fitting. The view from behind was quite enjoyable, and Sollux smiled to himself. Unfortunately there was something that irked him; the man was wearing a scarf. Inside. It was summer.

What an arrogant twat.

The man spun around looking extremely frustrated, and met Sollux's gaze. Sollux quickly looked down at his book, pretending as if he hadn't noticed him.

After standing there pretending to be interested in his book, with the man glaring at him, Sollux finally looked up. The first thing he noticed was that the chunk of violet hair matched the violet eyes that were watching him.

_'Oh fuck. Not this asshole'_ was all that crossed Sollux's mind when he recognised the man stood in front of him.


	3. Sanctuary

Chapter 3!

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Eridan and Sollux stood frozen on the spot for about a minute, staring at each other in complete silence. Finally, Eridan cleared his throat, "I didn't realise that you could actually _read_, Captor."

_'Oh fuck, I was checking out Ampora! I feel so... Unclean.' _Sollux inwardly winced at the thought. "I'm actually here to return a book for a friend," Sollux smiled, "Oh, Ampora, I forgot that you wouldn't be able to comprehend that. You know, doing a favour for a _friend_?"

Eridan's face flushed, and Sollux thought that the look on Eridan's face was well worth the anxiety he had felt on the way here.

Eridan neatened his scarf and smoothed out a few creases on this thin jumper, "Oh Sollux, your humour is such a refreshin' addition to my day. Are you plannin' on being here much longer? Your mere presence is taintin' my sanctuary."

Sollux laughed, "thanctuary!?"

When he realised what he had just said his laughter stopped and his smile faltered. His stupid lisp! He had been so careful to avoid any words that included an 'S' for so long, and now he'd slipped up. In front of Eridan FUCKING Ampora!

A smile tugged up at Eridan's mouth, "yes. My sanctuary. I would appreciate it if you would leave it." After a moment's hesitation, Eridan added, "pleathe?"

Sollux's gaze darkened. He stopped slouching, and straightened himself up to his full height. He stood a good few inches taller than Eridan. "Don't fucking push me _Eridan_."

"I won't,_ Sollux_, if you leave."

That cocky bastard must have fixed that stupid stutter. This made Sollux even more frustrated with his own lisp. He was about to say something cruel when he suddenly smiled. Eridan looked shocked when Sollux said, "yeah, okay Eridan. You're right, I _am_ tainting thith plathe. I'll leave."

Sollux turned and left the library through the heavy wooden doors. He leaned his back against them, enjoying the fresh air and the sunlight on his face. The smile hadn't diminished at all, in fact, it grew wider. "Oh Eridan, I did agree to leave, but I didn't thay I wouldn't come back. I think I may jutht come back every fucking day until you fucking thnap."

Sollux began his walk back to his apartment with a spring in his step. It was funny how deciding to torture someone brought him so much happiness.

Eridan had no idea what the hell has just happened. He wiped his thumb across his bottom lip, it had been a long time since he'd last seen Sollux, and that handsome, scrawny man still made him angry as hell.


	4. Tuesday

Chapter 4!

Last chapter was short as hell, and this was originally the other half of chapter 3, but I wanted to split this into its own chapter... I hope you find this one funny!

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TUESDAY:

The day before was still playing in Eridan's mind as he entered the library. He was feeling a little stressed after a long day at work, and felt the ache in his mind that only a good book could fix.

As he walked past the desk, he waved at Aranea, who returned the friendly gesture. He strolled through the shelves looking for something that would suit his tastes, and after wandering for a few minutes he decided on an old copy of a George Orwell book.

Eridan carried his book over to a battered, high-backed armchair. His favourite armchair. He sighed as he relaxed into it, smiling as he finally felt content for the first time that day, and savoured the moment as he opened the book to the first page.

The sound of the doors opening a few minutes later was the first thing to grate on Eridan's nerves. He grit his teeth as the plodding footsteps echoed inside the building, and inside his head. After about 5 minutes of incessant footsteps, they started to get louder and the person approached the seating area. Eridan gripped his book in annoyance, he suppressed the urge he had to stand up and punch the peace-wrecker in the face.

He almost dropped his book when he saw who this ass hole was. Eridan's mouth fell open as the lanky person plopped themselves into a chair opposite him.

Eridan looked at Sollux Captor, who looked smug as shit.

Sollux did not make eye contact with Eridan. He just read his book and ignored the world.

Eridan watched Sollux's little act. He watched him lick his finger before turning a page, he watched Sollux bring his legs up onto the chair. Eridan was fuming as Sollux got himself nice and comfy.

This was completely unacceptable. Eridan snapped his book shut and stood up.

Sollux didn't look up once.

Eridan spun on his heel, marched back to the bookshelf, thrust the book back into the correct place, and stormed out of the building.

Sollux grinned and stifled a laugh.

It had begun.


	5. Wednesday and Thursday

WEDNESDAY:

Eridan had been looking forward to coming to the library all day. He had been itching to finish his class and get going, so much so that he had been the first to leave when it ended.

Eridan smiled to himself as he neared the gorgeous old building. He ran his fingers down the dark wood of the doors, savouring the feel. He pushed them open and walked in. He relished in the delicious silence and the scent of books. This library was like a home to him; he knew every inch of it by heart, and yet it held uncountable worlds and universes within its walls, all waiting to be discovered.

He waved to Aranea as he passed her desk, and as usual, she returned the greeting with a smile on her face.

The book Eridan wanted was in the fictional section. He casually strolled over to it, trailing his fingers across the spines of the books passed. He slowed his pace as he neared the 'Q' shelf, and stopped completely when he reached 'R'. He lazily searched for the book he wanted, but his eyebrows furrowed when he saw it wasn't there. The entire series wasn't there. Eridan's eyes widened as he noticed... "No," he whispered.

What was Stephen King doing on the 'R' shelf!? Where were his Harry Potter books!? What kind of sick bastard would mess up the perfect order of the... Oh fuck. No, he wouldn't... The books were innocent! Eridan looked along the shelves; there were Grant books with the 'S' authors, Tolkien in the 'P', Harris in the 'Q'! Eridan's hands went up to his face, oh the humanity! The chaos! The unmitigated gall!

He turned slowly and watched Sollux grin and wave from the libraries entrance. Eridan screwed his face up as Sollux disappeared behind the wood.

He was getting pretty tired of this shit.

THURSDAY:

Eridan was jogging to the library; he wanted to get there before Sollux showed up and ruined his peace.

He threw open the doors and looked around wildly for the skinny ass hat. Eridan relaxed when he saw that the library was deserted, after all, that was the whole reason that he came to the library this time of the day. He enjoyed the solitude with his books.

After trading greetings with Aranea, Eridan cracked a grin and walked to the fiction section, his day improving as he saw that the Harry Potter books were back in their rightful place. He smiled gently as he lifted the first in the series off the shelf. Eridan knew that some people thought they were childish books, especially the early ones, but he appreciated the characters and the camaraderie. Plus, he also loved the magical side of it.

He held the book under one arm as he walked over to his favourite chair, he could see the back of it from where he was, and felt relief wash over him as he didn't see any feet on the floor in front of it.

As he walked around to the front of the large armchair, his nostrils flared. "How long have you been sat there?" He muttered.

Sollux was sat with his feet on the chair, looking very comfortable, "Oh hey Eridan, I came here exthra early jutht to thit in thith very lovely chair." He stroked the fabric on the arms of the chair. He was feeling so smug that he didn't even bother to hide his lisp, he didn't feel self conscious or embarrassed about it at all.

Eridan's face had turned an angry shade of red, "you havven't wwon Sollux. I am going to read my book no matter wwhat." Eridan looked ashamed of himself as the stuttering began. This made Sollux smirk, he had infuriated him so much that he had brought back Eridan's speech impediment. They were on a level playing field now, no more hiding their speech flaws. Part of Sollux even felt better about his lisp now, just knowing that Eridan struggled with his stutter made him seem so much more... Human.

Eridan dropped himself grumpily onto a chair opposite Sollux; he frowned as he opened his book. Just as he was starting to relax, a movement caught his eye; Sollux was pulling something small out of his bag. He stared at Eridan through his sunglasses the whole time, a wide Cheshire grin plastered across his face.

Eridan clenched his teeth as he realised what the object was.

Sollux brought the mobile phone up to his ear. Still staring. Still grinning.

Eridan glanced at the wall with the 'no mobile phones' poster; he turned back to Sollux and shook his head.

Sollux stared straight back and nodded his head in defiance.

"No!" Eridan whispered, "you wouldn't!"

"Yeth!" Sollux replied in a hushed tone, "I would!" He pressed the call button and waited. After a moments silence he began a conversation with someone on the other line, "hey KK! Nah I'm cool. Jutht in a library... Yeah I know! Yeah!"

Eridan looked shell-shocked. He put his book down on the table between them, stood up, and walked out of the building.

His mouth hadn't closed the entire time.

Sollux nearly burst out laughing, his plan had worked and he hadn't even needed to actually turn his phone on.


	6. Punishing Sollux

This chapter will be split into 2. I hope that you enjoy it!

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FRIDAY:

Eridan had put up with enough from Sollux; he needed to put the young man in his place.

The library was completely empty, even Aranea was nowhere to be seen.

A small sound escaped Sollux's lips; he has his back against a bookshelf, and had his wrists held tightly against his sides by Eridan. Although he was slightly taller, Sollux was completely at Eridan's mercy, and as far as he could see, this was something that they were both enjoying quite thoroughly.

Eridan leaned forward and pushed his lips roughly against Sollux's, who resisted at first, but slowly relaxed into it. Responding hesitantly for only a moment, and then kissing back.

Eridan released the wrists he was holding, in favour of exploring the smooth skin under the baggy shirt of the man in front of him. His fingers lightly trailing a path along the prominent hip bones, causing Sollux to flinch and gasp. Eridan took this opportunity to allow his tongue to venture into Sollux's mouth, who melted into the deeper kiss.

Sollux wrapped his arms around Eridan's neck, pulling him closer.

Eridan's mind started to turn fuzzy, his trousers felt painfully tight. He pulled away from the kiss, and Sollux looked at him with heavy, lidded eyes. Eridan had always loved those heterochromia eyes, even back when they were younger, he was always disappointed that Sollux hid them behind sunglasses.

Sollux brought his hands down to unbutton Eridan's jeans, and relieve him from his boxers.

Eridan ran his fingers through Sollux's scruffy hair, bucking his hips at Sollux's warm touch. He had almost forgotten that he was trying dominate the taller man; all he could think about was Sollux stroking his erection. A small moan escaped his lips as Sollux gently squeezed his sensitive head.

"Sol..." Was all Eridan could manage before Sollux turned them around, so that it was Eridan with his back against the bookshelf instead. "I'm... In charge," he whispered. Sollux smiled, "then act like it. Thtop hethitating."

Eridan flushed; he was getting frustrated, but it was hard to think clearly. He clenched his hands into fists Sollux's hair, causing Sollux to gasp loudly. "I am not hesitatin'. I'm enjoyin' this."

Seeing Sollux smile at this, Eridan bit his lip, and started to pull his head downwards. Sollux went down on his knees, and looked up at Eridan, who still had his hands clenched in his hair. Those damn eyes.

When Sollux brought his lips forward and took Eridan's erection into his mouth, Eridan moaned loudly and thrust himself further into the heat. Sollux circled his tongue around the firm head.

The heat rose through Eridan's body, it made his toes curl and his fingers tingle. His head swam with waves of pleasure; he couldn't focus on anything but that hot, tight mouth, and the swirling tongue. Eridan bucked and gasped, his eyelids fluttering, "fuck, Sol," he muttered. In response, Sollux gripped Eridan's hips and engulfed the full length. Eridan's world turned white as he approached climax, and when Sollux moaned while sucking, Eridan came.

As he did, Eridan woke up. His eyes flew open, his heart hammering in his chest. He looked around his room, and groaned angrily. He was going to need a shower before he did anything else.

He felt sick with himself for thinking about Sollux Captor in _that_ way.

Again.


	7. Eridan: Friday

I hope you enjoyed that little chapter :) this one will be a bit longer, I promise!

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Eridan felt appalled at himself for having such a dirty dream about Sollux Captor. As he stripped off the boxers he had slept in, he mentally scolded himself for being such an idiot. He was not going to allow himself to think about Sollux like that, not after the hell he went through in high school.

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_When Eridan had started high school, he only knew one person. Feferi Peixes. She had been his best friend since they were both about five years old. He had been devastated when they enrolled in different middle and high schools, but they both made a special effort to see each other every weekend, and as many weekdays they possibly could._

_Most people thought of Eridan as Feferi's 'lap-dog' of sorts. She never really fought her own battles; she didn't have to, because Eridan would jump in and defend her honour no matter who the cretin was. He walked away from many fights for her honour with a busted lip or bloody nose._

_Now, he was changing schools to be with her, they had already completed the first year in separate schools, but now they would be together!_

_He smiled as he approached his new classroom. He stood outside the door, his heart pounded in anticipation, he reached out his hand to the door-knob and... Froze. What if they hated him? What if Feferi had moved on? He hadn't told her about his transfer because he wanted to surprise her. What if she didn't acknowledge him? Oh fuck, this was a mistake, he made a mistake, he needed to get out of there! Eridan's chest tightened as a panic attack began. He shook and gasped, the front of his purple sweater-vest clenched in one hand, the other hand attempting to hold onto the wall for support._

_He needed to get out of here._

_Eridan turned and tried to run on wobbly legs, but because his eyes were shut with the effort of trying not to cry, he didn't see the person until they had collided._

_"Hey! Watch where you're going you thtupid idiot!"_

_Eridan, opened his eyes as they sat on the floor, both boys' glasses had fallen off. He grabbed his glasses off the floor and shoved them on. "I'm sorry, I wwasn't lookin', I didn't realise... I'm sorry," he looked at the person he had knocked over, and gasped. Staring back at him were the most wonderful eyes he had ever seen. One brown, one blue. "Are those real?" He said softly, not realising he had said it out loud._

_The other boy snapped his own mouth shut, and looked frantically for his sunglasses. After a second or two, he saw them behind Eridan; he quickly picked them up and put them on. "Don't take the pith." He muttered. _

_Eridan looked abashed, "I wwasn't! I just..." He allowed his voice to trail off._

_The other boy's eyebrows knitted together, "are you going to get off me, or what?"_

_This made Eridan flush red with embarrassment, he hadn't realised that he was on top of the other boy until then. He jumped up as quickly as he could, and began dusting himself off. When the other boy stood up next to him, Eridan put his nose in the air and put on his best brave facade. "Yes, wwell. Sorry about that. Wwe should both wwatch wwhere wwe are goin' next time."_

_The other boy scoffed, "both? You bumped into me pal!"_

_They looked at each other with contempt. When Eridan made a 'hmph!' noise and turned back towards the classroom, he realised that they were both headed to the same place._

_They were both going to be in the same class._

_Eridan had been introduced to the class by the teacher, and Feferi had stood up at her desk and waved frantically when Eridan had first walked in. They had spent the entire first period stealing glances at each other and smiling._

_It was at their break that Eridan learnt who that young man he'd had the encounter with was. "That's Sollux Captor! He's really nice!" Feferi had told him. Eridan smiled, he didn't tell Fef, but he really liked the moody boy. _

_Unfortunately, he and Sollux had not gotten along. What started as a crush on Eridan's part (he had never forgotten those fantastic eyes) turned sour, especially when Feferi and Sollux began dating. _

_At first, he was jealous of Feferi for being in a relationship with Sollux, then he began resenting Sollux for stealing all of Feferi's time and attention. She never had any time for Eridan anymore. He felt abandoned and used, after all, it was he who defended her, protected her... Loved her without expecting anything romantic in return._

_She was his rock, and the only thing that kept him sane in his swirling abyss of a head. She was the only person he had told about him being gay. With her gone, he felt dead inside, and it was because of Sollux!_

_He had decided that he hated Sollux, and it seemed that Sollux felt exactly the same way. They began bullying each other for their respective speech impediments, and getting into fist fights over the tiniest things. All the while, Eridan felt as if he had been cheated out of his most important friendship, despite the fact he had many other friends, none of them had been with him for as long as Feferi._

_That year of high school was a dark time of depression, anxiety and the feeling of not being good enough for anything. He had been happy to see it finish, but not as happy as seeing Feferi and Sollux break up. Eridan had Feferi back, and that was all that mattered._

_He had started art college, and she began studying as a marine biologist. They were still best friends, and he treasured that dearly._

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Eridan recalled all of this as he showered; he watched the soap suds swirl down the drain and the water cascading down his toned body. He turned the shower off, and stepped out onto the cold tiled floor.

He grabbed a towel off the rack, and proceeded to dry his hair and face. Eridan felt clean and fresh now, but Sollux still played on his mind. He dried the rest of his body and threw on some dry clothes, after which, he began the time-consuming chore of perfecting his hairstyle.

Eridan emerged from the bathroom roughly 45 minutes later. He paused at another mirror in his hallway; his legs looked slim in his skinny jeans, and he looked ravishing in his long sleeved, tight, black shirt. He wrapped a blue-striped scarf around his neck, and stepped into some sleek, black shoes. Eridan looked fantastic, if he did say so himself.

He picked up a small shoulder satchel, and put his phone, wallet and glasses case inside. As a last second decision, he added a sketch book and small pencil case to the bag. One never knew when one would be struck by inspiration.

Eridan left his home thanking his lucky stars that he didn't have any classes today, he was in too much of a bad mood after his dream. He set off for the library, hoping that Sollux wasn't there this early.

He most definitely was not in the mood for his antics today.


	8. Sollux: Friday

Thank you everyone who has read this so far! c: here's another Sollux chapter

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Sunlight streamed in through the window. Sollux had forgotten to close his curtains before he went to bed, and now he was paying for his laziness.

Sollux squirmed in his bed; the quilt lay on the floor out of his reach, so he tried to find the next best thing; his sunglasses. Sollux never looked up from his pillow as he groped the top of the bed-side table. A moment later, he heard the familiar clatter of his glasses hitting the floor.

"Oh for fuckth thaketh." He muttered to himself, "fine. Fine! I'll get up!"

Sollux stretched out, plucked his glasses from the carpet, and pushed them up the bridge of his nose. He leant forwards, his elbows on his knees, his head in his hands. Thoughts of the dream Sollux had just woken from were dissolving away, only small glimpses of clinging bodies, heavy breathing and... Violet eyes... Remained.

An angry grunt escaped the young Gemini's mouth as he tried to push these thoughts from his mind. "May ath well get thome breakfatht." Sollux told himself, ignoring the clock that told him it was, in fact, lunch time.

Standing up and looking around, Sollux spotted a shirt on the end of the bed; he grabbed it and pulled it over his head. It was black, which matched the boxer shorts he also had on, and one of his socks. The other sock was bright white. Sollux stretched as he strolled the short distance to his door, stepping over the discarded energy drink cans, dirty laundry and food wrappers that littered his floor.

He opened his door, and stepped out onto the corridor of the two-story apartment he shared with two friends. On his left, were the two closed doors of his house-mates bed rooms, and at the end of the short corridor was the bathroom.

Sollux leant over the chest-height banister to look down the stairs to his right. He could hear voices. He passed the bathroom as he reached the end of the landing, turned, and walked down the stairs.

The bottom step was situated in the living room. This was the largest room in the house, and it was where everyone would hang out if they had brought guests over.

_'Everyone's in the kitchen then.'_ Sollux thought to himself, he continued through the living room, to the door on the other side. He pushed this final door open, and stepped into the bright, white room.

"Holy fuck, it's Sollux! Did you shit the bed or something? I haven't seen you awake this early in fucking years!" Exclaimed a grumpy looking, short, young man.

"The bed remainth shit-free my dear Karkat. I would thtill be athleep if it wathn't for the thupid thunlight." Sollux slumped down in a chair opposite Karkat, smiling. He didn't bother hiding his lisp in front of his best friend; he was too comfortable with him to care.

"Well holy fucking damn," Karkat leant back in his chair, smirking at Sollux across the table, "welcome to the land of the living."

Another young man stood at the oven, colourful oven mitts pulled over his large hands. He stared intently at an egg timer, slowly; he dragged his eyes away from this to look at Sollux, a lazy smile lighting up his face. "Hey best friend, did you wake from a land of dreams to look for some nourishment?"

Sollux gave a small smile back; He liked it when Gamzee didn't wear any of his strange makeup. Sollux would have gotten some breakfast-lunch, but he could smell a pie baking. He really hated pie, and didn't want to insult Gamzee and his cooking. "Nahh, I jutht came down to thay 'hi' before I head out."

Gamzee nodded his head, his mop of black hair bobbing with the movement, "that sounds like a motherfucking shit-hot idea to me, bro. You have yourself some excellent times." With that, Gamzee turned back to his egg timer, still smiling.

Karkat crossed his arms, his eyes narrowed. "You're going to the library again, aren't you?"

"Yeah. It'th a wonderful plathe of learning, Karkat. And you know me, I love to read." Sollux could barely hold back a grin.

"Don't give me that shit. You're only going to see _him_. Fuck Sollux, you're so obvious that it hurts."

Sollux's face dropped. Behind his glasses, his eyes blinked rapidly as he felt a twinge of anger pierce his gut. "Hold on KK, I'm only going becauthe I'm doing thith ath a revenge... Thing. I want to pith that prick off."

Karkat shook his head, "Look. I'm about to lay some fucking truths on you, so listen up. You two were as bad as each other back then. I watched you both put each other through hell, and you both fucking suffered for it. Why fucking reopen old wounds?"

Sollux hadn't really thought about it. He had enjoyed this past week because he felt as if Eridan deserved to be annoyed, but he didn't really stop and ask himself why he continued to do it for so long.

Karkat dug a finger into one of his own ears, "and now you're trying to think of a way to rationalise this whole thing. Just admit that you like hanging out with the ass-hat, and stop this absolutely ridiculous charade!" Karkat looked quite pleased with himself as he reached his conclusion.

"He ITH an ath-hat. That'th why I'm doing thith. You should thee how pithed off he getth, it'th like... Fucking hilariouth." Sollux stood up. "I'm going out. At leatht I can enjoy one thing today."

"You'll see, Sollux. And when you do, you'll come grovelling back to my abode with your fucking arm outstretched in complete submission. And I swear, I will rub your nose in my gloating, like rubbing a dog's nose in its own shit when it craps on the carpet." Karkat had a very conceited look on his face as Sollux left the room.

Sollux stomped to the bathroom. He peed, then brushed his teeth, and ran his fingers through his scruffy hair. He looked at himself in the mirror, he wasn't ugly, but he still hated his face. _'I bet Eridan never has to worry about looking like shit.' _He thought bitterly.

When he got to his bedroom, Sollux threw on any clothing items that looked relatively clean. Fortunately, he only really owned black clothes, so he didn't have to worry about anything... Clashing.

Once again, Sollux ended up wearing a short-sleeved black shirt, with a Gemini symbol motif, and black jeans. He couldn't find a pair of matching shoes, so he ended up with one white converse, and one black converse. Sollux wasn't bothered by this though, he didn't care what people thought about how he looked. Not really. He hated himself too much to care about what reasons other people had for hating him.

He grabbed his phone, wallet and keys, and shoved them in his pockets. He pulled a thin black jumper on.

Just as he was about to leave, Sollux stopped. He had thought of how he would drive Eridan crazy today.

He whipped around and began searching for his back pack; he saw it lying underneath his computer chair. Sollux grabbed it and rummaged through it, seeing exactly what he had been looking for.

A smile sprung up on Sollux's face. Perfect.

He ran out of the apartment feeling much better, blowing mock kisses to a laughing Karkat and Gamzee as he left through the front door in the kitchen. He ran out the main front door of the apartment building, and almost laughed out loud as he slowed to a jog.

This was going to be amazing.

He hoped Eridan was already there.


	9. Friday: The Master Plan

What was Sollux's "master plan"? Prepare to be surprised :T It's not that hard core...

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Eridan sat on his favourite armchair with an exceptional book on his lap, and a very content look on his face.

He had already been here for three hours. Three wonderfully silent hours. With no Sollux in sight at all.

Eridan was wrapped up in his own little world, and for the first time this week he was feeling happy. He was almost too blissfully unaware to hear the doors open.

Almost.

He froze, praying to any Gods he could think of, that it wasn't Sollux Captor that had just entered. Eridan slowly turned his head and saw...

A woman pushing a pram with one hand, and carrying a bunch of books with the other. Eridan felt euphoric with relief, he felt like jumping up and kissing the lady just for not being Sollux.

She didn't notice that she dropped a book as she moved them from one arm to the other. Eridan quickly got up and jogged over, after all, he _was_ a gentleman, and nothing but chivalrous.

He gently picked up the book and turned towards the woman, who had already reached the reception. "Miss, you dropped this one." Eridan held the book out towards her.

"Oh! Thank you so much," She took the book, smiling widely, "You know, this library just has the sweetest young patrons. It must be my lucky day to have been helped by two handsome young men!"

_'Two? '_ He thought.

"Hey buddy! Gueth who held the door open? I'm a regular thamaritan." Came a voice behind him. Eridan tried to control the anger that was bubbling up from the depths of his stomach. He forced himself to turn.

Sollux grinned happily as Eridan faced him, noting the reddish flush creeping up his cheeks.

Eridan refused to answer him. He focused on returning to his chair, flinching as he heard the soft footsteps padding after him.

Sollux matched Eridan's pace, he was in such a good mood he even stole a few glances at Eridan's behind. Damn those jeans were like a second skin.

When Eridan sat down, Sollux did the same in the chair opposite. Eridan felt his patience dwindling; his good mood had been extinguished.

Sollux wriggled his arms out of his backpack and set it down on his lap. He looked around for Aranea; spotting her heading down the colourful corridor to the children's section, her arms filled with the books that had just been returned by the pram-lady.

It was now or never, he only had a few minutes to execute his master plan. He dug around in his bag.

Eridan glanced up from his book to see Sollux searching through a battered old backpack. Suddenly, Sollux froze. A victorious look appeared on his face, and Eridan watched him pull something out of the bag.

Eridan went cold. Not _that_! He wouldn't_ dare_! The deviant!

Sollux's hand emerged holding an unopened pack of Jaffa Cakes.

Eridan's eyes swept the walls, there were 'no food or drink' posters everywhere! If Sollux had chocolaty fingers after eating one, he could stain a book! This was _Unacceptable_!

As Sollux watched Eridan's expression change from a furious rage to a pained look, he hesitated. This sympathy only lasted for a second though, because he opened the bright orange packaging.

Eridan watched Sollux take one of the Jaffa Cakes out of the packet, and make an over-dramatic "mmm" noise as he ate it. He felt hatred wash over him, and tasted bile at the back of his throat. When Sollux finished his fourth chocolaty treat, Eridan felt his heart rate quicken, his breathing became shallow, and his face heat up. He couldn't take it anymore.

"You wwin."

Sollux looked confused, "wha' oo thay?" He asked, his mouth full of cakey mess.

"I said, 'you wwin' Sollux. I just wwant my library back. So wwhatever you wwant, I'll give it to you. Just leavve me alone, _please_."

Sollux watched Eridan suspiciously. He didn't trust that Eridan was being serious, but he looked completely defeated; his whole demeanour had changed. Worst of all, those eyes had lost their lustre. Eridan hadn't even bothered to hide his stutter.

Sollux finished chewing and swallowed the food in his mouth, "Eridan, it'th jutht a library."

"No it isn't! I already told you, it's my sanctuary. It's the only place I actually like bein'!" Eridan even sounded exhausted.

Leaning back in his chair, Sollux thought about it. He didn't know if Eridan had suffered enough, but then again, he looked truly broken up about it.

Sollux rubbed his hands on his jeans. As he weighed up everything and pondered the pros and cons of the situation, he heard something that made him laugh.

Eridan's stomach was growling.

Eridan looked absolutely horrified at himself, in his rush to get to the library, he hadn't eaten.

Sollux straightened his face, and held out the pack of Jaffa Cakes, "want one?"

Eridan looked appalled for about half a second, then he snorted, then laughed. After a moment, Sollux joined in.

They sat laughing together, all the frustrations and bottled-up anger ebbing away.

Finally, Sollux began the conversation back up, "you know what, I'm pretty tharved too, I can't remember when I ate real food latht. Want to get thomething?"

"_Really_? You sure _you_ wanna go somewhere with _me_?" Eridan asked sarcastically.

Sollux smiled, "I thuppothe. It'll be your treat after all. Let'th go!"

Sollux packed his Jaffa Cakes away, and Eridan complained about the injustice of it all. They left together, feeling as if huge weights had been lifted from both of their chests.

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I did warn you that it wasn't a majestic plan :T I hope you liked this chapter, it's been the one I've been looking forward to writing since the beginning! In the next chapter, Sollux and Eridan will probably do some manly bonding.

Thanks for reading!


	10. Finding Food

Sorry it's been so long since I last updated! Super busy with work and such...

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this update!

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Sollux and Eridan walked together in a comfortable quiet. They hadn't really spoken since leaving the library; their silence was punctuated with stifled sniggers at the thought of Jaffa Cakes.

It was Eridan who finally spoke, "Sollux, we've been walkin' in circles for twenty minutes, when are we goin' to decide where to eat?"

Sollux took note of the fact that Eridan's stutter was under control again. This made him conscious about his lisp, "I dunno. What are you in the mood for?" Sollux was careful to think about choosing his words before speaking, if Eridan wasn't going to stutter, he would avoid 's' words as not to lisp.

Eridan looked around; they were now in the centre of town, surrounded by a plethora of fine restaurants. "Well I don't want to choose somewhere you won't enjoy, and I don't know what kinda food you like, do I? I know what kinda food I'm in the mood for, but I suppose I should consider my guest's palette." He smirked, and glanced at the man walking with him. "I believe that is social protocol, even if I should be the one to choose where we go, as I will be the one payin'."

Sollux shrugged, "I can't turn down a good burger."

Eridan scrunched up his face a little, "oh, _please_ tell me you don't want to go to a fast food establishment. I have never stepped foot in one of them!"

Sollux laughed, "what!? You mean you've never eaten a Big Mac? A quarter pounder?" His mouth hung open as Eridan shook his head with a disgusted sneer on his face. Sollux became serious for a moment, "Eridan, have you ever eaten a chicken nugget?"

"Fuck, Sollux! That's not even real chicken!" Eridan looked as if he would throw up at the mere thought of it, "please tell me Sollux, what part a the chicken is the nugget? If I get a chicken diagram, would you label the nugget for me?"

Sollux held his serious composure, "of courthe I can. It'th right between the deliciouth gland and the miracle lung, it's a delicathy."

Eridan burst out laughing, and for a split second Sollux thought that it was because he had let his guard down and had lisped. "You're fuckin' quick Sollux, you come up with the funniest shit when you're on the spot like that!" Eridan remarked.

Sollux felt the worry slip away, and felt slightly more comfortable again. He smiled, "back to what we were talking about though, where to eat?"

Eridan rubbed his face with one hand, "uhhh, sushi?"

"Fuck no."

"Indian?"

"Nope."

"Chinese?"

"Nahh."

"Fuck, then where!?" Eridan was a little impatient at this point; they had been walking around for half an hour now.

"Eridan, I already told you, I want a burger. No posh food, no organic crap, nothing like that." Sollux scanned the buildings around them for somewhere familiar; he didn't leave the apartment much so he didn't know anywhere that wasn't a place that delivered. "Wait, what about that plathe?" Sollux was looking at a little restaurant on the corner of the street; it looked clean and nice, and there were a few people sat at the tables outside with burgers.

"Ehhh, I've never eaten there before." Eridan said quietly. He looked at Sollux, who was hungrily watching the people eat their food, "alright. Let's check it out."

Sollux nearly whooped with joy, he hurried across the road, and went inside the restaurant. He stood in the doorway, drinking in his new surroundings. The tables were wooden, with dark green placemats; the dining area was bright and very homely. Best of all, the wonderful smell of rich meats cooking filled the air, making Sollux salivate.

"Table for one?" A young serving lady asked.

Sollux looked confused, "uhh, no, I..." He looked around, and saw Eridan was outside the building. He hadn't noticed that Eridan didn't follow him in. Sollux turned back to the lady, "table for two, thank you. He'll be a minute." He said, motioning towards Eridan.

The lady smiled, and showed Sollux to a small table near the back of the dining area, "just wave me over when you and your friend are ready to order!" She told him.

Sollux smiled at her as she walked away, he sat down at the table, and watched Eridan through the window. "What are you _doing_?" He muttered quietly, trying to figure out what Eridan could possibly be trying to accomplish by standing outside.

After a couple of minutes, Eridan finally stepped into the building, and walked over to Sollux.

"What the fuck were you doing out there, Eridan?" Sollux asked as the other man approached.

"Felt dizzy." Was the only explanation Sollux received.

Eridan opened the menu that was on his placemat, and began scanning it for something he'd like. He tried to ignore the fact that Sollux was watching him intently.

After a minute or so he chose what he wanted, "I'm havin' a steak, you still wwant a burger?" Eridan closed his menu, and met Sollux's gaze (at least, he thought he did. Damn those sunglasses).

Eridan's stutter did not go unnoticed. Sollux nodded, "yeah, I want the double beef burger, medium rare. With frieth. And a coke, no lemon. Eathy." He waved at the serving girl who had shown him to his seat, and she walked over quickly.

After relaying his order to the girl, who jotted it down in her notepad, they turned to Eridan.

Eridan fumbled a little, he had to double check his order with the menu as he spoke, "yes, I wwould like the, uhh, eight ounce steak... Rare... Wwith fries, an no dressin' on the salad please. An a coke please."

The girl smiled as she noted it down, and told the pair that it would be ready shortly. Then she turned and left to get their drinks.

"You sure you're okay?" Sollux asked, genuine concern lacing his assumed that Eridan was just being fussy because this wasn't one of his fancy food outlets.

"Yes. I already told you that I felt dizzy." Eridan snapped, fiddling with his scarf.

Their drinks were delivered and they sat in silence for a while. Each contemplating what to say next.

"Tho. Eridan. You got a girlfriend?" Sollux asked.

Eridan choked on the coke he had in his mouth. "G-girlfriend!?" He coughed for a moment before laughing, "Sollux I've _never_ had a girlfriend!"

Sollux failed to hide his laughter, "uhh, okay. That'th a little thad, Eridan."

"No it isn't." Eridan replied, straightening himself up in his chair, "why would a gay man have a girlfriend?"

"You're gay?"

"Yes." Eridan sniffed indignantly, "I thought that was common knowledge, most people make that assumption about me, you see."

Sollux looked at Eridan for a moment. The tighter than tight trousers, the sleek shoes, the colour co-ordination... Not to mention that perfectly styled hair. Eridan certainly looked the part!

"Well, I don't like to make the connection between a perthonth appearanth and their thexuality. I mean, look at me? I don't exthactly look the part, do I?" Sollux leant back in his chair, and shrugged.

This was news to Eridan, he leant forwards in his seat, and rested his chin on his hands, "you can't possibly be gay, Sollux. You've had such a record with long-term girlfriends... Unless that has all been a front?"

Sollux held his hand up to stop Eridan's train of thought, "thothe relationshipth weren't fake, I really did like them. I jutht don't have a preferenthe for either gender. Love ith love, no matter what you hide in your pantth." Sollux was almost surprised at himself for revealing to Eridan that he was bisexual, but Eridan had come out to him, so all's fair.

This statement made Eridan smile, "that's a nice way to look at the world." He sipped his drink, "you know what, Sollux? You made my life hell this past week, but I'm glad. If you hadn't, I wouldn't be sat here gettin' to know you." He raised his glass, "to chance encounters."

Sollux lifted his glass, and tapped Eridan's gently, "to chanthe encounterth. It'th nithe to finally thee you ath a real human."

Before Eridan could come up with a snappy come-back, their food was brought over, and they both nearly wept.


	11. Sollux: Burgers and Flashbacks

Aaaagh! This is a bloody long flash-back chapter ._. I hope you enjoy it!

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Sollux and Eridan began eating before their server had even let go of their plates. Sollux stuffed a handful of fries into his mouth, and had barely even begun chewing them before grabbing more. Eridan used his cutlery on his food at least, but only because he couldn't bear to look uncivilised.

They didn't speak until they had nearly cleared their plates. Once again it was Eridan who took the initiative to speak first, "so, are you still with, uhh... Aradia, was it?" He asked, eating another piece of steak.

"Mm. Aradia." Sollux finished the large bite of burger he had in his mouth, "no. We broke up a couple of monthth ago."

"Oh, sorry to hear that. Did you dump her? Or was it the other way around?" Eridan asked, eating a fry.

"Uhh, well, it'th hard to thay." Sollux made weird motions with his hands as he struggled to find the right words, "I gueth I dumped her. I mean, I did tell her that I never wanted to thee her again."

"Wow, so it didn't end on the best terms then?"

"Ha. Yeah you could thay that." Sollux took a large swig of his coke, "but on what termth are you thupposed to end a relationship when you find your partner in bed with another perthon?"

Eridan choked and spluttered, "wwhat?! She..?"

Sollux nodded, a wry smile on his face. "Yep. You remember Equiuth? From highthcool?"

"Oh fuck, the big, muscly guy?" Eridan furrowed his eyebrows while trying to remember more about him, "wait, I didn't even know that they were friends!"

"Well turnth out that they were more friendly with each other than anyone thought." Sollux said grimly, "they made up for lotht time over a couple of monthth, I found out that whenever I wathn't round, he wath. I never felt more like a fucking idiot than I did that day. Jutht theeing them together... It... It made me feel like fucking killing thomeone."

In an attempt to comfort him, Eridan reached out a hand and patted Sollux on the shoulder, "fuck, Sollux. How have you been doin'?"

Sollux only nodded and continued eating. "Better... I gueth. Maybe."

Another silence fell between the two. "Well she's not worth it, Sollux. She's the one missin' out." Eridan gave a small smile.

Although Sollux didn't return it, he did feel a bit better hearing Eridan compliment him like that.

As they continued eating their lunches, memories of that night flooded Sollux's head.

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_Sollux hadn't seen Aradia for two days, the last time he had spent time with her was when they had abandoned the book and gone out for dinner. He felt guilty about not arranging to hang out with her, but tonight was going to be worth it. He had been dating Aradia since they were both sixteen years old, and now that they were nearing their fifth year anniversary, Sollux thought that their relationship was ready to be taken to the next step._

_As he walked to her house, he fingered the small velvet box in his pocket, his chest tightened and his breathing hitched with excitement. _

_This was the single most impulsive thing Sollux Captor had ever done. Usually his anxiety would begin acting up, and he would lock himself away for a month just at the thought of doing something so spontaneous._

_But not when it came to doing something for Aradia. He loved her. and that was all that mattered. He would move the fucking world for her._

_He knew that her parents would be at work, they both worked nights thankfully. Sollux would be able to do this without having to worry about them making a big fuss about it._

_Sollux walked up the garden path to Aradia's front door. He hesitated only momentarily as he reached out for the door handle, but then he remembered who he was doing this for. _

_With a shy grin, he opened the door and stepped into the house. He quietly closed it behind him. He was grateful that he knew the layout of the house so well, because the landing lights were off and it was pitch black in the house, but he refused to turn them on and alert Aradia to his presence. Once again his hand went to his pocket and his fingers stroked the small box once again._

_That's when he heard it._

_The sound of two hushed voices, and Aradia giggling._

_Sollux hadn't known that Aradia was going to have friends over, he began climbing the stairs silently. He was a little jealous of this, and his brain ran through ideas of how to ask Aradia to get her guest to leave, so that he could continue with his plan._

_As he finished his ascent, he heard something that made his blood run cold._

_A male voice._

_At first he thought that she might just have a male friend round, which made him even more envious. But then he noticed that her bedroom light was off._

_Sollux froze to the spot. Thoughts flew through his mind at breakneck speed. This couldn't be happening, there must be a mistake, but why was her light off? Aradia wouldn't do this she couldn't do this he loved her didn't she love him too? There must be an explanation for this she must not realise how inappropriate it was to have the fucking light of when she has a male guest round!_

_His movements were slow and lethargic, his feet felt so heavy. Sollux's mind told him to turn around and leave, but his legs continued to move him closer to her bedroom door._

_His fingers closed around the door knob, and even though he willed himself not to, his hand turned and the door opened._

_He reached a hand across the wall and flipped the light switch._

_Aradia whipped her head around to see who the intruder was, her mouth hung open as she saw Sollux staring right at her from the doorway. "Oh!" Was all she said before covering her naked body with her quilt. Her guest sat up next to her, his shoulder length black hair was tousled and his very muscular body had a sheen of sweat on it. Sollux recognised this guy as their old high school acquaintance, Equius. They both looked very ruffled, and quite a bit startled._

_"How long have you been with him, Aradia?"_

_"Sollux, darling, I-"_

_"How long have you been with him, Aradia?" His voice was a little louder._

_"Don't! I'm-"_

_"Aradia. I am getting tired of the repetition. How long have you been with HIM?"_

_"Darling, please listen to me! This isn't-"_

_Sollux was getting very angry now, his insides felt as if they were on fire. "I will not repeat mythelf again, Aradia." He flinched at his own lisp, "thtop it with the bullshit."_

_"I'm not! I swear! I just-" Aradia had the quilt clenched in her hands as she covered herself with it._

_"HOW FUCKING LONG HAVE YOU BEEN DOING THITH TO ME!?" _

_"Five months!" Aradia finally screamed, tears falling freely. "I'm sorry, Sollux! But I still love you!"_

_This was a shock to Sollux, he was expecting this to be a one-night stand, truth be told. Five months of his life he had been dragged along, like a stupid toy._

_He felt numb, he felt sick, he felt as if he would never be okay again._

_"Five monthth. Fuck. When the fuck did you two find the time to thee each other? And don't bullshit me, I've already caught you."_

_"When you were at your course, and I wasn't at mine." She admitted, her voice cracking slightly._

_Sollux nodded. He turned to leave, he had to get out of there, once again he was moving on auto-pilot._

_"Sollux! Please! I still love you! I just..! I just loved you both! So much!" She cried after him._

_Sollux flinched. He turned slowly, glaring with an intense loathing from behind his sunglasses. "I hate you, Aradia. I never want to thee you ever again. Don't call me, don't email me, if you thee me around, you better fucking walk away. Fuck you. Fuck both of you."_

_With that, he slammed the bedroom door behind him, stomped downstairs, flung the front door open and stormed through. He didn't bother to close it after him._

_He began to make his way back home, barely feeling the cold air, the past ten minutes replaying in his head. He felt relieved that Equius hadn't tried to say anything; otherwise Sollux would have probably attacked the larger man... And likely would have gotten his head kicked in._

_It was only when he was outside of his own apartment that he cracked. He began crying suddenly and desperately. His sobs wracked his entire frame, and his tears felt hot against his cold face. He pulled at his hair and screamed in frustration and anguish. He punched the wall of the building and felt his knuckles crack._

_When the front door opened and Karkat stepped out looking scared as fuck, Sollux threw up on the steps._

_Sollux continued to scream and cry, and punch the wall until he collapsed with exhaustion. He felt Karkat grab him in a rough, tight embrace. He cried into Karkat's shirt, clawing at him desperately. _

_Karkat had held him for hours, his eyes wide and his body shaking with pure worry for his best friend. He had been terrified of the state Sollux was in. He didn't leave Sollux's side that night, for fear of what Sollux would do to himself if he was left alone._

_Sollux hadn't heard from Aradia since that night. The small velvet box and its contents had been returned to the jewellers. And now, he had to live with a whole new range of anxieties._

_Yet, there was still a part of him that craved her. He yearned for her to stroke his hair, and tell him it was all a misunderstanding. That was why he had been so excited when he found her book. He just wanted it all to go back to how it was before._

_Sollux hated himself for not being completely over her, despite what she had done to him. No-one had ever loved him she had, and it was the only thing that made him feel human._

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Sollux stared across the table at Eridan, who was smiling sadly, almost as if he knew what Sollux was thinking about.

"I'm sorry I brought her up." Eridan said, his eyes showing genuine remorse.

"Don't worry about it," Sollux replied, waving his hand nonchalantly.

Their plates were completely free from food, and both men felt much better now that they had something in their stomachs.

Eridan picked up his menu again, and began scanning it. He smiled as he looked up from it, "hey Sollux. Want a dessert?"


	12. Desserts and Goodbyes

:T whelp. Here comes dessert!

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Sollux listened to Eridan reading the desserts menu to him, he was feeling a little defeated after being reminded of Aradia, but he appreciated how hard Eridan was trying to get his mind off it.

He perked up at the sound of a honey-drizzled cheesecake. "Read the dethcription to me, Eridan." He asked, lifting his head off the table.

Eridan raised an eyebrow, and eyed him over the top of the menu. "Uhh, 'a vanilla and honey cheesecake with a biscuit base, drizzled with our finest honey.' Oh, it also says it will 'blow your mind'." Eridan smiled slyly, "does that tempt you? Am I goin' to be the devil's advocate here, Sollux?"

Sollux _did_ think that it sounded absolutely delicious, and he preferred honey to all the chocolaty desserts that Eridan had described to him.

"That'th the one I want," Sollux said, his mind finally off Aradia.

"Well I for one will be getting the creamiest, chocolatiest, fattiest dessert I can find on here." Eridan muttered, his eyes roaming the menu page. After a minute, his eyes stopped wandering, and a grin spread across his face, "do you think anyone would judge me if I ate an entire fuckin' sharin' platter of profiteroles?"

Sollux snorted, "do you care even if they _do_ judge you?"

"No... Not really. My belly will be full of cream, chocolate and pastry. I'll probably be so fuckin' fat and euphoric that they'll need to carry me out of here in a wheelbarrow."

This made Sollux laugh. He was beginning to relax again.

Eridan smiled warmly at Sollux, "alright, I'll go place our order."

Sollux watched Eridan walk to the cash register to place their dessert order. He really did look great from behind.

After a few minutes, Eridan returned to the table with a glass of coke in each hand. He handed one to Sollux, "I thought we were runnin' a little low."

Sollux finished the last few mouthfuls of his first drink, and pushed the empty glass to one side of the table."tho now that we've ethtablished that you do not have a _girlfriend_," Sollux said, bringing up the conversation they had earlier, "what about a boyfriend?"

Eridan took a long, slow drink from his glass before answering, "no. I don't have any significant other in my life. Not at the moment anyway." He hesitated before adding, "I don't need one to be happy."

"Eridan, wou- "

Just as Sollux was about to say something, their waitress came over to their table, and he snapped his mouth firmly shut. The three made idle chitchat as she picked up the dirty crockery, and when she left, the table was clean and orderly again.

Eridan watched Sollux with his head slightly cocked to one side, "what? Was you about to ask me somethin'?"

"Nope. Nothing at all. Can't remember." Sollux was mentally kicking himself for what he had nearly said.

An awkward silence settled around them like a heavy cloud, and they waited for their desserts to come. Each struggling to find something to lift the mood.

After a few minutes of waiting, a waiter came over carrying one plate, and a rather large bowl. Sollux felt a childish excitement come over him when he saw the gorgeous cream cake, the gold criss-crossing, the thick biscuit bottom. It was quite possibly the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, he was in love.

The first thing Sollux did was cut it into two perfect halves. It physically hurt him to do so, but it was tradition, and he had promised to always do this for the most important person in his life. _He_ meant more to Sollux than cake ever could, even if the cake was perfection.

Eridan thanked their server, and watched Sollux's little ritual. "Sollux, what _are_ you doin'?"

Sollux picked up a wide spoon, "oh, uhh, well... I promithed my twin brother that if I go out to eat, and get a pudding, I'd thave him half." He spooned a chunk of the cheesecake into his mouth, savouring the mulled sweetness as he chewed, "we have the thame tathte in thweet thingth, tho it'th eathy enough. Pluth Mituna doethn't get to have a lot of thweet thingth..."

The reaction Eridan gave was quite surprising, "_half_? You want to give your 'Mituna' _HALF_ of the cake that _I_ bought for you?! I can't put up with that, Sollux."

Sollux stopped chewing. He froze in his place. What was this bastard trying to say?

Eridan stood up in a huff. He turned on the spot and walked away.

Sollux's mouth dropped open. What the fuck had he said to get that hipster's pants in a knot!? He was about to get angry, and call Eridan something very colourful, when he saw what happened next.

Eridan marched up to the cash register, and began speaking to the man who had brought over their orders only moments before. Then he returned to the table, sat down, and stared at Sollux. "Close your mouth, you have food in it, and it is positively disgustin' to see."

It took him a few seconds to respond, but finally, Sollux clamped his mouth shut and swallowed. "What the fuck wath that about?" He asked, still not understanding Eridan's actions.

"I bought you that piece of cake as a treat. You looked sad, and sad people deserve cake. That piece of cake is yours, and you will eat every last crumb." Eridan looked quite serious, "_that_ is sad-cake. Not sharin'-cake."

The waiter walked over and placed a small cardboard box onto the table, with a smile. He immediately left the table to tend to other customers.

"_That_, is sharin'-cake." Eridan stated, pointing at the box.

When Sollux flipped the lid off, he saw that there was an identical piece of cheesecake to the one he had started eating, inside. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked up slowly.

"Sollux, I told you that I can't put up with you givin' half of that cake away." Nervous fingers returned to the scarf, "I'm sure you'll both be happier with a full piece each... Won't you?"

Sollux wanted to say 'thank you', but he was still reeling from the little bratty act that Eridan had put on to throw him off. He just nodded dumbly, and returned his gaze to the mess on his plate.

"Fuck. I did not think this through. Look at the fuckin' size of this thing!" Eridan was staring at the mountain of profiteroles in front of him, "there's gotta be like, fifty here!" He actually looked horrified.

Sollux hadn't even noticed Eridan's dessert; he had been too enthralled by his own. It was a beast; a mound of small pastries filled to bursting point with cream, and smothered in a thick, melted chocolate sauce. It looked amazing. He looked up at Eridan's expression, and burst out laughing.

"Well you ordered it, you fat shit." Sollux laughed.

"I did... I really did. Oh shit, Sollux, why didn't you talk me out of it?!" Eridan moaned.

"Well, eat what you can, and I'll take the retht with me!" Sollux smiled slyly, knowing full well that he would be taking home most of that goliath pudding.

"... It was supposed to be a _sharin'_ plate..." Eridan whined quietly, "...For _four_ people..."

This made Sollux snort as tears sprung to his eyes. "You're a fucking monthter Eridan! What the fuck!?"

Eridan picked up his spoon, "I regret this decision, but I'll be damned if I'm not tryin' to conquer it."

To his merit, Eridan ate about a third of his dessert before he announced that he would throw up if he ate another bite. He had called a random server over for another food box, and while they fetched it, he popped four profiteroles into Mituna's cake carton.

"You didn't have to do that, Eridan." Sollux muttered, feeling a little guilty.

"Yes I did. As you said, your Mituna doesn't get a lot of sweets, so it's a special occasion." Eridan licked a bit of chocolate off the side of his own hand. "Besides, you didn't complain when you finished your entire bloody cake!"

After the rest of the profiteroles had been packed away into a separate box, Sollux tried to offer it to Eridan as a gesture of good will, but Eridan flapped around dramatically saying that he would never look at another pastry ever again. So Sollux left with two boxes to share with his brother and housemates.

Eridan paid the bill and left a generous tip before they left. With no other plans, they both decided it was getting late and to call it a day.

They walked home in the same direction, Eridan complaining the whole way about feeling sick from over-eating.

Standing outside Eridan's home, they shared a long silence.

"Thankth for... Today." Sollux smiled.

"Well, thank you for drivin' me insane for the past week." Eridan replied sarcastically, "Oh! Here..." Eridan pulled his sketchpad out of his bag, and searched for his pencil, he began scribbling something down, "this.. Is my number." He ripped the page out and handed it to Sollux.

Sollux looked at the phone number. Even this guy's handwriting looked pretentious! He smirked to himself, and pocketed the piece of paper. "Well, here'th mine then." He took the sketchbook off Eridan and scrawled his number down.

After he finished, they smiled at each other.

"It wwas actually quite enjoyable to spend time wwith you, Sollux." Eridan said as he climbed the steps to his front door. Once again fingering his scarf.

"Yeah, thith wath fun."

Eridan turned with a wide grin, "but seriously, stay awway from my library!" He unlocked his door, trying not to laugh. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt something smack him in the back. He turned around to see Sollux running down the street screeching with laughter.

Eridan looked at what had Sollux had thrown at him, his hand flying up to his mouth to stifle a chuckle.

Half a pack of Jaffa Cakes lay on the ground.


	13. Sollux: Seeing Mituna

C: Thank you for the views and reviews!

By the way, if anyone was wondering, a Jaffa Cake is a soft biscuit with an orange jelly top, covered in chocolate :o)

Enjoy the new chapter!

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Eridan locked his front door behind him after entering his home, he double-checked that the door was most definitely locked before walking away. After removing his shoes and placing them on the shoe-rack, he strolled into the front room and set the half-pack of Jaffa Cakes down on the coffee-table. Smiling, Eridan flopped down on his sofa, and dropped his sketchbook onto the floor. Today had drained him.

Despite the fact he had really enjoyed himself, and had loved finally getting to know his high-school crush and rival, weariness gnawed at his mind. Eridan stared at the ceiling as he replayed the past few hours over in his head.

He remembered how he had stood outside the restaurant for so long that Sollux had noticed, and the only excuse was that he could make up was that he was 'dizzy'. Eridan groaned and covered his face with his arms, feeling absolutely pathetic. The truth was that he was checking the windows for the familiar cleanliness-safety poster. He couldn't possibly eat at any establishment that couldn't pass a simple cleanliness check.

Eridan also felt very nervous when he went to any new places; he didn't know who would be there or what the atmosphere would be like. Despite his flamboyant exterior, Eridan was quite nervous, and worried extensively about meeting and interacting with people. Thankfully, he never really needed to spend much time in the company of others, apart from when he was in class, or in a public place.

Eridan loved living on his own; he didn't really like sharing space with anyone else. It was because of this that he didn't believe that he could ever live with another person; he couldn't bear the thought of having someone else intruding on his privacy.

But, the silence got to him. He wished he had someone that could greet him whenever he got home, that someone would miss him when he was gone. Instead, he came home to nothing. And it was the nothingness, the unyielding silence that got to him most. Some days he couldn't bear the thought of returning to his house.

This was why he loved his library so much. He adored the tranquillity of it; it was a beacon of light in his otherwise lonely and secluded existence. Eridan loved being able to share a small gesture of acknowledgement with Aranea, and to be free to enjoy the warm quiet of the library and the plethora of knowledge.

Slowly, he sat up, and flipped open his sketchbook; he soon found what he was looking for. A phone number.

Eridan typed the number into his phone, and saved it to his contact list. It was a little too early to send a text just yet, but he was a little excited to see if Sollux would text him first. He smiled as he touched the phone to his lips.

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Sollux didn't slow his pace until he had passed the corner; he gasped and wheezed with a massive cheesy grin spread across his face. He needed to get more exercise; this was a little embarrassing for him to be worn out so quickly.

He stood for a minute or so, breathing deeply, and turning his face upwards towards the sun. He thought about how strange it was that he and Eridan lived only a short walking distance from each other, it _was_ a small world! Sollux would have been surprised about the fact that they had never seen each other around before this Monday, if not for the fact that he didn't really go outside much.

After his lungs stopped screaming for air, and his heart rate returned to normal, he began walking again. Sollux was heading to his parents house, he wanted to give Mituna the cakes before they got stale and gross. He was not looking forward to the time it was going to take to get there and back, but he was excited to seeing his brother's face when he gave him the treats. It would definitely be worth it.

The walk took about 45 minutes, and by the time Sollux reached the front door, he was feeling the burn. He _really_ needed to get out more. He froze as he brought his hand up to knock the door, he looked at the window to his left, and saw that the net curtain that usually covered the living room window had been pulled to one side. In its place was a face. It was pushed up against the glass, nose squashed flat, and eyes barely visible under a fluffy mop of dark hair.

Sollux and Mituna mirrored each-others expressions from either side of the glass that separated them. Mituna's face disappeared, and after only a second, the front door was flung open, and Sollux had barely enough time to throw his arms (still holding the boxes of cakes) above his head before he was pulled into a crushing hug.

"I mithed you tholluxth! You haven't been around in ageth!" Mituna held on tightly.

Sollux smiled, he felt his twin's fluffy hair tickle his cheek. "I mithed you too, Tuna."

It was only after Mituna pulled away from the tight embrace that he noticed the boxes Sollux was holding. "What'th that Tholluxth?" He asked, his eyes glittering with hope and anticipation.

Sollux stared into the eyes that he loved so much on his brother, but hated so much on his own face. They shared the same eye colouring, but Sollux believed that Mituna wore them well; they suited him, and made him look very cute. Sollux, on the other hand, felt ugly and shameful when he looked at his own.

"Well, it _miiight_ be a treat, for you."

"Tholluxth!" Mituna grinned happily, "I'll go athk dad if I can eat them now! I've already had my dinner! I'm tho exthited!" With this, he ran inside the house, calling for their father.

Sollux followed him, closing the front door behind himself. He walked through the dining room and into the kitchen, where his father was washing dishes, "you alright, dad?" Sollux greeted the tall man.

His father turned, and smiled at Sollux. His father's name was Simon. He was a kind looking man; his warm, brown eyes stared out from behind half-moon glasses. He was tall and slim, and had short, dark blonde hair. "Sollux, I wasn't expecting you to visit today, I would've cooked you something."

"Nahh, I ate thomething already, don't worry about it." Sollux set the cake boxes down on the kitchen unit, opening them both to check which one was for Mituna, and which one was for Karkat and Gamzee.

His father eyed the boxes, "that's an awful lot of cake for one young man," he chuckled a little.

"It'th not all mine, dad. The perthon I went out for food with bought too much dethert, tho he thaid I could bring it all back for Tuna and KK." Sollux closed the lid of the container that held only profiteroles, but left Mituna's open.

They stopped their conversation as they heard the frantic footsteps of Mituna running around upstairs searching for his father. In his excitement, he had forgotten that their father had been in the kitchen.

"Dad... Dad..! DAD! Tholluxth got me thomething! DAAAD!" Mituna thudded downstairs, and ran full-speed into the kitchen. Finally finding himself face-to-face with Sollux and Simon. "Dad! Didn't you hear me!?" He shouted, "I ate all my dinner, can I pleathe have the treat!?"

Both twins looked at their father, hopefully. He sighed and rolled his eyes, then handed them two spoons, "go on then."

"Thankth dad!" Mituna nearly screamed, he snatched the spoons and grabbed Sollux's hand. Sollux nearly didn't have enough time to pick up the cake box for Mituna, before he was dragged away by him.

They ran upstairs together, towards the bedroom they had shared for so many years. Sollux plonked himself onto the bed; it had yellow and black striped bed-covers, and two large, plump pillows. Sollux grabbed the black pillow, and put it between himself and the wall, Mituna did the same with the yellow one.

"Tho what did you get me?" Mituna asked, trying to sneak a peek at the contents of the box that Sollux was holding, giving one of his spoons to Sollux as he did so.

Sollux grinned as he set the box down on the bed, he watched Mituna's eyes widen.

"Thank you Tholluxth!" After a moment's hesitation, Mituna added, "are we going to share the caketh?"

"Nope. I already ate, tho you got the whole cake to yourthelf. Aaand you get to try thothe oneth, they're called 'profiteroleth'."

Mituna's whole face lit up, and he began digging in happily.

Sollux smiled as he watched Mituna enjoying himself, he loved his brother more than anything. But, there was a part of him at the back of his mind that missed how his brother was.

Before the accident.

This thought was pushed away as quickly as it appeared. Sollux loved Mituna, regardless of how he had changed.

They sat together on the bed. Sollux listened to Mituna happily chatting away about his new skateboard and his girlfriend Latula, and about how great the cakes were.

After a few hours hanging out with Mituna, Sollux had to leave. He had a lot of work to do for his course, and it was nearly time for Mituna to start winding down before going to bed. They shared a long, tight hug before Sollux left, "I'll be round again thoon, okay Tuna?"

"Okay, thankth for the caketh, Tholluxth!" Mituna ran to the window, and pulled back the curtain and the net, waiting for Sollux to leave.

Sollux turned to his dad, who was sat on the navy blue sofa, "thee you later, dad."

"Don't be a stranger, Sollux. Be careful getting home."

Sollux shouted a goodbye as he left through the front door, walking away from the house backwards so that he could mirror Mituna's enthusiastic waving through the window until he was out of sight.

Sollux always regretted having to leave, but he had a lot of coding that needed to be finished. He moved the box of cakes for his friends from one hand to the other, and sped up his walking speed a little. He wanted to get home soon.


	14. Sollux: The Peace Offering

I will be attempting to update more frequently from now on ;) I know where I want this story to go, and the pace _should_ start to pick up from now!

Thank you so much to anyone who returns to this story just to read the new chapters, and write such lovely reviews! ;u;

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When Sollux walked into his own kitchen, he was immediately confronted by an angry-looking Karkat.

"Sollux you complete ass-fuck I haven't heard dick from you all fucking day!"

"Hello to you too, KK."

"Don't fucking _'hello'_ me you turd-fucking, ass-wrangling, shit-eating..! Oooh, what's that?" Karkat watched as Sollux opened the box towards him as an offering.

The chocolate on the profiteroles glistened, and Karkat eyed them like a magpie would a necklace. Sollux moved the box left and right, and Karkat's eyes followed.

"Look KK! I bring you a peathe offering."

Karkat looked up at Sollux, his eyes narrowed, "damn right it's a peace offering." He snatched the box out of Sollux's hands and sat at the kitchen table. He continued to glare until Sollux sat down opposite him, and Karkat put an arm protectively around the small box, "so, tell me about your day then. Please indulge me in your fucking thrilling tales of adventures and best-fucking-friend ignoring."

Sollux waited until Karkat had pulled a spoon out of the cutlery pot on the table, and had begun eating before saying anything. It was best to wait until Karkat had some food in his mouth as to postpone the inevitable rant.

"Well, like I told you thith morning, I went to the library." Sollux began.

"Fuck me sideways this is fucking delicious." Karkat muttered, he looked up, "take those damn glasses off. I want to be able to look you in the eye when I begin my fucking gloat-fest."

Sollux grudgingly pulled his sunglasses off, and dropped them onto the table. He held Karkat's gaze with furrowed eyebrows. "Happy now?"

Karkat licked his spoon clean, "very much so. Now, I'm guessing that your library excursion didn't take all this time, did it?"

Sollux hesitated before answering, "no. It didn't."

"Mmm-hm. Thought not. So, where did you and Eridan go?" Karkat smirked.

"There'th no uthe lying to you, ith there?"

Karkat shook his head, his spoon full of pastry and poised next to his face, "nope. So spill it."

"We were both hungry, tho we dethided to get food. I got him to pay for all of it, including your caketh. Then I went to dad'th, to vithit Mituna. Then I came home. Thatithfied?"

Karkat nodded, "yeah, I'm fucking ecstatic, can't you see how fucking delirious I am?" He leaned back in his chair, looking thoroughly pissed off. "I do have one question though. Why didn't you fucking answer your phone once?"

Sollux gave Karkat a confused look; he hadn't heard his phone go off once all day, so he pulled his phone out of his bag. He had 7 missed calls, and 15 very angry text messages that held a wide variety of curses and insults.

He looked guiltily at his best friend, "thorry KK. I didn't turn the volume on after going to the library."

Gamzee strolled casually into the kitchen, and stood next to Karkat, "hey best friends, is everyone feeling the motherfucking good vibes floating around?" He had applied his strange makeup at some point during the day.

Karkat lifted the almost empty box above his head, "a peace offering, courtesy of our friend here."

Gamzee smiled and lifted a single profiterole out, "peace is the best motherfucking type of offering, brother." He walked over to the fridge, and opened it. He then balanced the cake on top of a milk carton. "I want to remember this beautiful, motherfucking offering of the peaceful kind forever."

Sollux pulled a face; he never knew how to respond to Gamzee when he acted like this.

Karkat put the box back on the table in front of him, "now. What did I say would happen when you returned? I believe it was something about gloating?"

"Something about teaching dogs not to shit anywhere they motherfucking like, and rubbing their faces in their messy leavings." Gamzee added, his head inside the fridge for no apparent reason.

"Fucking right you are." Karkat folded his arms. "You _were_ warned, Sollux. I told you about the shit-storm you would invoke when you went out with Eridan. Fucking prepare yourself for the wrath I'm about to extend to you." Karkat stood up, and walked to Sollux's side.

"I fucking told you that you enjoyed his fucking company. You both had fun! That was why you continued the whole goddamn act of pissing each other off!" Karkat exclaimed smugly.

Sollux felt himself beginning to get angry, but he saw his phone light up on the table next to him. He thought he recognised the number.

"Thith ithn't over, KK." Sollux snarled, standing up and walking out of the room.

"Go to her, Sollux! She needs you!" Karkat dramatically called after him.

When Sollux was about half way up the stairs, when he heard Karkat again. He had followed Sollux when he left and was now at the foot of the steps, "hey Sollux, we're still friends right?" He smirked innocently.

"Fuck off, KK." Sollux grinned. He couldn't stay mad at his best friend, even if he _was_ being a prick.

Sollux closed the door to his bedroom, and sat down on his messy bed. He contemplated not reading the text today, still feeling a little sore from Karkat's comments, but he wanted to see what Eridan had messaged him.

He decided to read the text.


	15. Eridan: Neighbours

:T here comes more characters!

I wanted to focus on the love-hate, attraction relationship that Eridan and Vriska have :T I hope it reads well!

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Eridan had barely finished making himself a cup of coffee when he heard a knock at the door. He sighed, and set down his cup on the kitchen cabinet, knowing exactly what was coming next.

"Alright, alright. I'm comin'!" Eridan yelled as he approached his front door, but before he could even reach it, it was flung open.

"Hey Eridan! Guess who invited their friends over for some LARPing!" A tall woman marched into the house, her nose pointed at the ceiling. As she passed Eridan she ran a hand through her long, choppy, black hair, flicking it in his face.

Eridan scrunched up his nose, "how _did_ you know I was home, Vris?" He asked, he was annoyed that his door had been left open. He glared at his guest as he slammed the door shut, then followed her into the kitchen.

Vriska dumped the two bags she was carrying onto the floor as she walked, she picked up Eridan's cup of coffee and drank from it, "Ugh, Eridan, you know I don't take _cream_ in my coffee! Jeez, learn how to treat a guest!" She dumped the rest of the mug's contents into the sink.

"Vris, I made that for myself." Eridan said calmly, placing his hands on the kitchen unit either side of her, trying to look a little intimidating.

Vriska smiled slyly, "whoops. Well, let's be honest, I did you a favour, you wouldn't drink something someone else had put their mouth on. So pouring it away was the only viable option after my taste test, was it not?"

Eridan held her gaze. She was very pretty, but had a cruel look about her; she always seemed to be sneering. Her blue eyeshadow and lipstick matched her brilliantly cerulean eyes.

"Vris, it would've taken me less than a minute to make you your own coffee, why drink mine?" Eridan said through gritted teeth.

"Because, my dear, it's so much more satisfying to drink yours first!" She said gleefully.

They stared at each other, almost nose-to-nose. That is, until Vriska pouted, and made little kissing noises, and Eridan pulled himself away grimacing.

"Ugh, I'd rather not." Eridan muttered, "want a coffee? Tea?"

"Coffee, black, two sugars." Vriska flashed her pearly white teeth at him and fluttered her eyelashes, "cheers."

Eridan turned the kettle on, and began spooning coffee granules and sugar into two mugs. "So how _did_ you know I was home?"

"Oh, you know me Eridan! I always seem to look out my window at the right moment. I saw you with a little friend, and when he didn't come in, I invited myself and the gang round!" Vriska watched Eridan collect a little carton of cream from the fridge, pour a small amount into one mug, then return it.

Eridan's house was situated between two apartment buildings, which were both a story higher than his own home. His house had two floors, with one set of stairs

Both of the neighbouring apartment buildings were identical; they were both made up of three, single-floor apartments.

"Hmm. Well you do seem to have a knack for knowin' the right moment to spy on me."

"It's a gift!" Vriska smiled again.

The kettle finished boiling, and Eridan stirred the coffees, handing one to Vriska.

They stood together in the quaint kitchen, drinking while they waited for their other guests to arrive.

"So, what time will they be here?" Eridan asked, glancing up from his cup.

"Well, I told them to head over as soon as I saw your guest leave. So they should be here soon, but you know them, they have their reasons for being so _slow_." Vriska shrugged, she set her mug down, "oh, check this out!"

She grabbed the biggest bag that she had brought over and opened it; carefully lifting out a beautiful and long dress made out of thick, glossy, black fabric, and trimmed with blue ribbon and lace. It was definitely pirate-inspired, this made even more evident by the black captain hat decorated with a rather large blue feather.

"Sexy, huh?" She said proudly, looking up at Eridan with gleaming eyes. "And have a look at these!" From the second bag she produced a pair of shiny, black, thigh-high boots.

"I'll admit, that's a pretty gorgeous outfit." Eridan admired the perfect craftsmanship, "good job."

"Why, thank you!" Vriska said playfully, gathering the clothing up gently into her arms, "now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get dressed." She marched off, her nose once again in the air.

Eridan crossed his arms, and watched her walk off to whatever room she decided to get dressed in.

He cleaned the units with an anti-bacterial wipe while he waited for her to return.

There was a loud rapping at his front door.

"And so it begins." Eridan muttered, and he went to let his newest guests in.

At least this time Eridan was able to open his own front door, but was a little shocked as he looked at the scene that had unfolded outside his house.

There, stood on the pavement in front of his steps, was a pair of people in full LARP-gear. A young man sat in a wheelchair, wearing a Peter-Pan inspired costume, and next to him stood a young, blind woman, wearing a red and turquoise ensemble. She had been hitting the door with her seeing-eye stick from the pavement.

The woman smacked Eridan in the legs with her stick, "SHIT! TEREZI THAT'S MY LEG!"

"SORRY ERIDAN! DIDN'T _SEE_ YOU THERE!" She shrieked, trying not to laugh.

Eridan grunted and rubbed the sore patch. He walked down the steps, and stood behind the boy in the wheelchair, gripping the handles. "Go on Terezi, you go first." He said bitterly.

She cackled, and tapped her way to the steps, walking up them slowly.

"Uhh, sorry." Came a small voice below him.

Eridan looked down, "sorry? What for, Tav?"

Tavros looked up with large, dark eyes, "for intruding, I, uhh, and... Because you have to... Help me." He looked away.

"If you want to feel guilty, go tell all this to Vris. She's the one imposin'." Eridan wheeled Tavros around, so that he was able to walk backwards up the few stairs, while pulling Tavros with him.

"Oh, uhh, I have some exciting news. I might be getting some physiotherapy, uhh, the doctors, think that I might be able to walk again, if I get some special leg braces." Tavros looked up, in his own passive way; he seemed very excited to share this news.

"That's fuckin' amazin', Tav, congratulations." Eridan grunted as he pulled, "so, when do you get these robot legs?"

Tavros gave a smile, "well, it's, uhh, not set in stone, yet. But, I'll be seeing another couple of doctors first, but, uhh, soon. Hopefully."

"HEY ERIDAN, VRISKA'S IN THE GARDEN! BRING TAVROS!" Shouted an excited Terezi.

Eridan flinched at the volume the girl was screaming at, "for fuck's sake Terezi! You're blind, not fuckin' deaf! Stop shoutin'!" Eridan scolded.

He watched Terezi walk, and Tavros wheel himself to the kitchen, and out the door that lead to the garden. He went upstairs to his bedroom, grabbed a large sketchbook, and some pencils, then joined the trio in his beautiful garden.

The garden was one of the main reasons that those three came round. The apartments didn't have any grassy areas, and they couldn't do their LARP activities in public places. So Vriska asked for the use of Eridan's garden when he moved in a few months ago.

He had agreed to allow them to do their activities, and in return, he was able to get a lot of life-drawing done for his art class. It was very beneficial for him to be able to sketch people like this, without having to interact with strangers. Also, their costumes provided him with experience in drawing different fabrics and clothing, which was all good practice.

Eridan sat down on a garden chair, his sketchbook open to a new, blank page. He watched the way that the three interacted, and began to draw.

By the time they had finally finished role-playing, the sun was setting. Eridan rubbed his tired eyes, and set down his pencils, he had gotten a lot done today. He brought his sketchbook and pencils into the house.

Eridan helped Tavros and Terezi leave, and after they began to make their way to their respective homes (which were close-by) he turned his attention to Vriska.

She was still wearing that fantastic outfit; it clung to her body in all the right places, and if Eridan wasn't gay, and didn't know that she was a bitch, he might've thought that she looked attractive.

"Have _fun_, Vris?"

"Yes indeed. I got to show off my new outfit to people that recognise true genius, and I also heard that Terezi nearly broke your leg." She grinned.

"Fuckin' hilarious. So when's your next meet-up?" Eridan asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. He could feel a headache starting.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to keep an eye out for when you're free!" Vriska waved as she walked out the door, and Eridan closed it behind her. He leant against it, feeling thoroughly exhausted again.

"Bloody hell. That was too tirin'." He murmured. Eridan returned to the living room, and dropped to the couch, after a while, he took his phone out of his pocket and began writing a text.

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Apologies for how higgeldy piggeldy this chapter is! QAQ


	16. The Text

Sorry this one took so long! I had a lot of stuff going on with work :)

Thank you again or your patience, favourites, and kind words!

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Eridan hoped that he didn't seem needy by texting Sollux first, but the tiniest part of him just wanted to hear from that fool. He typed and retyped his message, hoping to sound as casual and aloof as possible.

He considered using his old typing style; after all, he still used it whenever he sent a message to Feferi. Eridan quickly decided against this, he didn't want to seem too friendly... Or did he? He groaned aloud; annoyed at his own indecisiveness, and the fact that he felt as nervous and insecure as a teenage girl after her first date.

"Wwhat the fuck am I supposed to say!?" He shouted into the emptiness of his home. No answer came, and the silence only seemed to judge him.

Finally, after staring at the small screen for what had felt like an eternity, Eridan gave up and just hit the 'send' button. He felt his stomach come alive with regret and foolishness, but he didn't care anymore.

He rested his head against a cushion on his couch, and closed his eyes, awaiting a response he was sure would never come.

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Sollux read the text, he felt as though it was a little short to have come from such a verbal person as Eridan Ampora, and it was because of this he felt as though it was very forced. Eridan was probably holding back.

" hey sollux today was nice hope mituna enjoyed his puddin "

Before doing anything else, Sollux saved the number to his contact list.

Sollux felt a little guilty. He thought about how much he had hated Eridan at the beginning of the week, and how he had delighted in destroying the so-called 'sanctuary' of the other man. Sollux considered the fact that if anyone had told him five years ago that he would be having dinner with _Eridan Ampora_, _willingly_; he would have laughed until he had asphyxiated.

So why was it that he found himself so happy that Eridan had gotten in contact? Why was it that he was actually smiling?

Sollux fought the urge to text with his usual quirk, and as he text back, he wondered whether this was a one-off event, or whether they could ever end up becoming actual friends.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Eridan jumped, he had been drifting into the darkness of half-sleep when his phone buzzed loudly in his hand.

He quickly began reading.

" hey. mituna enjoyed the cakes, thanks for the food today. "

He quickly replied.

-.-

" no problem remember that this was payment for not comin back to my library "

" what if i want to come back? what if i told you that you've made me realise how nice the library can be? "

" you cannot be fuckin serious "

Sollux smiled as he read this.

" well, maybe something can change my mind. maybe I can be tempted to not come back. afterall, that burger was really good today. "

Eridan felt his throat tighten, was Sollux saying what he thought he was saying?

" sollux do you want to get more food "

Sollux grinned.

" why not. keep me fed and i might just stay away "

" deal you tell me where an when "

Sollux and Eridan both sat in their respective homes not knowing what had just happened. The week had started with them both feeling nothing but hatred and contempt for one another, and now they were acting like schoolgirls, arranging to meet up for dinner.

The last message and the possibilities hung around them both. Sollux thought carefully about what he would write next.

" if you have next friday free we can hang out then? "

Eridan licked his lips, this was actually happening.

" i dont work or have class on fridays so sure why not "

" alright then. i know where to find you if plans change. "

Sollux left it at that. He lay down on his bed, and happily nodded off.

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Eridan sat awake for a long time after he received the last text. His mind reeled with possible implications, and even though he knew he was reading too much into it, one thing was for sure.

Sollux had enjoyed himself, and Sollux had been the one to instigate a second meeting.

They had spent so long fighting each other, despising each other, and now they were arranging to hang out with each other.

There was only one person Eridan could think of talking to right now. He began frantically texting once again.

" me an sollux went out for food today an now he wants to go out again next fuckin friday "

Eridan stood up and began pacing around his living room, waiting for the reply. The feeling of exhaustion had been replaced by a squirming mix of excitement and trepidation.

After the eleventh time checking his phone, he finally felt it vibrate in his hands. He pressed the answer button, but before he could even get his first word out, his ear was filled with a high-pitched voice.

"EEEEERIDAN! THAT'S FINTASTIC NEWS! I CAN-KNOT BE-REEF THAT! WATER YOU PLANNING ON DOING!?"

Although nearly deafened, Eridan loved how excited his best friend was for him, and he grinned at the amount of fish-puns she had made.

"Fef, clam down, it's only a meal... It's nothing too sea-rious," Eridan made sure to return the gesture of making fishy-puns for Feferi, as they were her favourite. So, he told her all about what had happened that day.

"So wwhat do you think, Fef? Does it sound like he actually had fun? Or is he just tryin' to be nice?" Eridan fiddled with his scarf, a little paranoid about whether or not the other man was just humouring him.

"It shore sounds like he had a whale of a time with you! Oh, Eridan! I'm so happy for you; it's nice to hear that you're both finally getting along so swimmingly!" Feferi giggled.

Eridan stopped pacing, and sat down once again. "I don't know, Fef. I just... I dunno."

"Don't worry Eri, weeee'll hang out soon, and we can talk all glubbing day!"

"Alright, I'll sea you soon. Bye Fef."

"Byeee Eeeeri!" Feferi hung up, and left Eridan to his silence.

Eridan jumped up and began pacing around the room again, thoughts of Sollux still swirling around his head. After groaning, and running his hands through his hair, he stormed upstairs to his bedroom. He stripped off, and flopped onto his bed wearing only his boxers.

He was asleep before his head even touched the pillow.


	17. Red And Blue

It's another dream chapter :T

This is a sad chapter, I'm sorry. But it explains a bit of Sollux's past.

Warning, it contains blood and... Yeah.

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_Sollux knew he was dreaming; he felt completely weightless, yet his arms and feet were cumbersome and slow to move. _

_He stared out into the dense fog of his subconscious, looking for any sign of movement. After seeing nothing but the cold white blur, he turned around and came face-to-face with a person who had been stood behind him._

_The other person was slightly shorter than him, and watched with wide, violet eyes. _

_They remained this way, their noses almost touching, for what could have been seconds or millennia._

_Sollux held Eridan's gaze. All Sollux wanted was to say the name of violet-eyed man, just the name, but the word fluttered inside of his throat, and thought it tried desperately to escape through his mouth, it could not._

_The pair remained silent. Staring. Eyes transfixed._

_After what felt like an eternity had finally passed, Eridan smiled, and raised himself up on his tip-toes. With their lips only millimetres apart, Sollux did the only thing he could physically make his body do. He closed his eyes and awaited the kiss._

_Instead, he was thrown to the ground, and could feel a pain in his jaw. He looked up and saw those same violet eyes glaring down at him, and instead of tenderness or even impassiveness, they held only a burning hatred._

_The dream was no longer a blur of only white, as Sollux could now make out a pale blue sky. The fog around them had morphed into a crowd of faceless, jeering people, and Sollux could hear a dull, rushing sound coming from them. He recognised this scene._

_He stood up slowly, his limbs feeling as if they were filled with lead. Sollux remembered this happening often, it was a common occurrence when they were both about sixteen years old._

_Sollux looked at himself, he was dripping red from somewhere on his face. Tiny red spatters appeared on the floor, and onto his own upturned hands. He forced his head to turn towards Eridan._

_He saw that Eridan was also bleeding. _

_There were thin trails of red making their way down his face, a lot from his hairline, and more from his lips and nose. The blood had pooled on his blue scarf._

_Red and blue. Red on blue._

_Sollux's world flew around him, spinning wildly, and making him feel sick._

_When the dream finally stopped moving, Sollux was no longer haunted by violet eyes. He wished he was, he wished more than anything that he could go back and not see this._

_The world was filled with a warm glow. A soft hand touched his cheek, and he was helpless against it, Sollux stared up into the face of the woman he had loved so much. His beautiful Aradia. He couldn't move as a flurry of wonderfully happy memories were thrust into his field of vision. _

_Sollux knew what was coming next. He tried to take control, but failed, and was forced to watch everything. A tiny velvet box, a door handle, a light-switch._

_Visions of her red painted lips, and Equius's blue eyes. Visions of them fucking in the bed that Sollux had shared with Aradia on so many occasions._

_Red and blue. Red on blue._

_The world began spinning once again, visions and memories ripping Sollux into pieces, causing him nothing but excruciating pain. He wished for something to stop this, anything but this, anything!_

_Whatever God Sollux had been praying to, must have heard, as Aradia vanished from the dream. Unfortunately, the God must not have been a merciful one, as Sollux was forced to relive a much worse memory._

_Please, God, not this! Give me Aradia! Give me Eridan! I changed my mind! Please, I won't complain about the others, please! Not this! NOT THIS!_

_PLEASE!_

_Please!_

_Please._

_The sky in Sollux's dream was so blue. So very blue. He didn't want to, he tried to keep his head still, but he turned, and looked at his twin brother buckled into the seat next to him. Sollux felt his face being pulled into a wide grin that matched his brother's._

_Sollux was made to look at the person sat in the seat in front of his brother. He looked at his mother's face in the car mirror; she was so beautiful, and her eyes were so blue. She caught him staring, and smiled happily at him._

_Please don't smile at me. Please don't look at me. Please._

_He wanted to warn them, he needed to warn them, but his words were imprisoned behind his teeth._

_The car they were all sat in suddenly jolted, and Sollux watched the side his brother and mother was sat on crumple inwards. No sounds or words could escape his lips; all he could do was helplessly reach out a tiny hand at his twin._

_The car rolled, and so did the sky. It was above them, then underneath them, again and again, and then the car stopped. Their car was upside down. The blue sky was again beneath them, and thin lines of red streaked through it. Thin red lines from where his mother was sat._

_Red and blue. Red on blue._

_Her blue eyes stared into the car mirror; there were red splatters on her face. And everywhere._

_Oh God, make it stop._

_Red and blue. Red on blue._

_A shrill noise began, and the only thing that filled his vision were red and blue flashing lights._

_Red and blue. Red on blue._

_Sollux was dragged from the wreckage, and told not to look by the shadowy fog-figure that was carrying him so gently._

_But Sollux did._

_The sky was just so damn blue, and the tarmac was so fucking red._

_Red and blue. Red on blue._

Sollux woke up screaming, but nothing except a quiet hiss escaped his mouth. He drew his knees up to his chest, and cried into the darkness. He hated that dream. The beginning was different, but the end was always the same.

He missed her so much.

He held his mouth closed tightly, and kneaded his eyes with the palms of his hands, trying to erase the images left behind by the dream. They remained for a while though, burnt into his eyelids like a bright light's ghost.

Sollux knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep for the rest of the night.

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I'm so sorry ;n;


	18. Eridan: The Phonecall

I am so sorry for not updating in so long! I have had so many irons in the fire, so to speak! I'm sorry for the heavy chapter last time, hopefully this one will make up for it :o)

Enjoy! And thank you all again for the views, reviews and favourites! It all means the absolute world to me!

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Eridan trudged back to his bedroom with a cold glass of water. As he set his drink down next to his phone on the bedside table, he glanced at the sleeping figure in his bed, and felt his chest swell with love.

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His guest had let themselves into Eridan's house with their key, and had awoken him from his nap by clattering loudly around the kitchen. When he had gone to investigate the noise, Eridan had found his guest sitting contently at the table with a steaming mug of tea and an overflowing bowl of cereal.

"I always seem to run out a cereal whenever you come round, an you always seem to eat more when I'm sleepin'," Eridan had remarked as he leant against his kitchen doorframe.

Feferi had grinned cheesily back at him, and spoke in very broken sentences while shovelling food into her mouth. "Whale, I dolphinately had to come round, Eridan!" She frantically chewed a mouthful, "after all, we just _had_ to glub all about today!" As she ate another heaping spoonful of cereal, Eridan sat down opposite her, "Bouy, I shore am hungry after all the carp I put up with at work today." She took a swig of tea to help her swallow her food better, and Eridan waited patiently with a small smile playing on his lips. "Hooo! This hits the spot! Oh, sorry about finishing _another_ box of cereal..." Feferi looked up guiltily, but as usual, Eridan could never get angry at that sweet little face.

"Don't worry about it Fef. Tell me all about work. An then we can just fuckin' eat cereal an glub all about whatever you want."

And that's exactly what they did. The pair stayed up for hours sharing many long and excited conversations with each other, mostly discussing work, class, and plans to meet up with a certain Sollux Captor next week.

At one point during the conversation, Feferi had said, "you always liked him, didn't you?"

Eridan spluttered, he was unable to control his stutter because he was so nervous and talking so fast, "wwhat!? You're kiddin'?! _Him_!? I wwouldn't... I didn't... I!" He looked his best friend in the eye, and knew that there was no way he could possibly lie to her. "I... Yeah. I did. But that wwas a long time ago, Fef. People change, an wwe hated eachother. Nothin's gunna happen evven wwhen wwe do meet up again... Wwe'll most likely just become strangers, to be honest." Eridan swallowed the lump in his throat. "I'm sorry Fef."

Feferi smiled knowingly, and her eyes did not betray the genuine happiness she was conveying, "oh Eridan, you silly squid, I always knew! You told me yourself more than once back then, whenever you got drunk you'd carp on and on about him! And I think we both liked him at the same time for quite a while."

The two best friends sat under a blanket together on opposite ends of a couch, Eridan brought a corner of the blanket up to his face and chewed on it, "wwhy did you guys break up? You nevver completely explained it."

Feferi sighed, and fiddled with her long, curly hair. "We were too different, to be honest, and it didn't always feel like he was fully into the relationship. It always felt like he was just uncomfortable to be himself, so we mutually agreed to go our own ways! Then he got with Aradia... What's wrong?" Feferi looked very concerned at Eridan's current facial expression. He looked absolutely mortified, and very close to tears.

"I'm sorry Fef, but I just blame myself for alwways gettin' into fights with him! Evven if he _wwas_ a prick to me back then!" Eridan chewed a little more vigorously, "and, Aradia! Did you knoww wwhat she did to him!?"

This lead to another very long discussion about infidelity and the poor Sollux Captor.

They had ended up chatting the night away; sitting together, wearing pyjamas, and drinking large mugs of hot chocolate.

Finally, they had gone to bed, sleeping in the same position that they had done since they were small children. Feferi and her pillows at the top end of bed, Eridan and his pillows at the bottom end. Even if they had 2 beds available, they both would rather 'top-and-tail' like this, because they took so much comfort in each other's company.

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Eridan was now trying to sneak back into his end of the bed, he didn't want to wake Feferi up, but one of her feet was lying on top of his pillow, and the other was hanging out of the bed next to where he was stood. Eridan pulled back the quilt and tried to sneak under it, he always found it hilarious that the graceful and well-presented Feferi would sleep in a star-fish position and steal any blankets she could.

Just as Eridan had eased himself half-way into bed, and was feeling a bit smug, his phone lit up the room and vibrated angrily on his bedside table.

"Fuckin' hell!" Eridan shouted. He leapt over to the table, grabbed his mobile, and ran from the room. He heard Feferi snort herself awake and mumble, "wassat?" as he left.

_'Who the fuck is calling at four in the morning!?'_ Eridan fumed to himself. He looked at the screen to see who this inconsiderate miscreant was.

It was Sollux Captor.

Although still slightly annoyed, his curiosity was piqued. He pressed the answer button while making his way downstairs to the living room.

"Hello? Sollux?"

Eridan listened intently, he could hear the softest hitching breaths on the other end, and this was making him very concerned. "Sollux? Wwhat's wwrong?" Eridan was too tired to bother even trying to control his stutter.

"... I... I jutht... KK'th not here and I jutht..." Sollux sounded so quiet, and so tiny.

"Wwhat's happened? Are you okay?" Eridan gripped the phone against his head, trying to hear Sollux better.

"I'm thorry Eridan... Your number... fucking... It wath the only one... I'm thorry... I'll go."

"Wwait! Don't you even_ think _about hangin' up on me, Sollux Captor!" Eridan bellowed down the phone, "noww you wwill tell me wwhat the fuck happened to you!"

When Sollux didn't respond, Eridan thought that maybe he had scared the other man away by shouting so loudly.

"I can't... I'm jutht... In a pretty bad plathe right now." Sollux admitted, having trouble forming what he wanted to say. He was currently lying on his side in his own bed, with his knees brought up to his tear-streaked face, and the quilt over his head. After he had woken up, Sollux had tried ringing Karkat, but he was working nights and had his phone turned off. Sollux had been so desperate that he had phoned the last person that had texted him. Eridan Ampora.

"Wwell, tell me about it? Or you can come here, or I could evven come round yours if you need me to?" Eridan offered.

"No. I'm a meth right now. I jutht... Need thomeone to talk to me... Pleathe, keep talking tho I don't have to think about... Anything." Sollux's voice cracked as he spoke.

Eridan's mind had never felt so blank. He honestly couldn't think of a single thing to say, so he stammered and flapped, and finally decided to talk about what had pissed him off earlier. "I, uhh, had the fuckin' wworst day after you wwalked me home." He waited only a moment for a response that wouldn't come, before continuing, "yeah, Vvris, you remember Vvris from highschool? Wwell she came round, an brought her LARP buddies with her. I mean, sure I _used_ to join in, but that wwas wwhen wwe wwere in middle school together... An I was young. Noww she comes round wwhenevver she wwants, an invvites her bloody friends."

Eridan was very conscious of how he was rambling, but continued for Sollux's sake, "wwell, they use my garden to play around in, an I draw them for my art class. I get some good lifestyle poses, so it's kinda wworth it... I guess."

Sollux's soft snuffling assured Eridan that he was still listening.

"But she really pisses me off, you knoww? She wwas nevver vvery considerate... The bitch threww my coffee awway today..." Eridan's speech trailed off as he looked around his living room for inspiration for what to talk about next, he was so tired that could barely keep his mind focused. His eyes kept returning to the large glowing tank in the corner and finally it clicked. "hey Sollux, did you knoww that I'm allergic to animal fur?" He got up from the couch and walked over to the fish tank, stroking a hand down the glass. "It wwas a nightmare for my dad to find me a 'cool' pet. But then he gave up, and got me a goldfish one day, an I'vve lovved sea animals evver since. You should come round some time an see my tank, it takes up half a wwall of my livvin' room, an it's fuckin' incredible."

The sniffing noises were becoming less frequent.

"I'vve collected a fuckin' bunch a fishes and stuff, but my favvourite is my seahorse." Eridan stared into the tank, and watched his seahorse swimming inside the water near some coral. It was stark white, and stood out quite nicely against all the other wonderfully colourful fish. "He's a zebra-snout. He's really wwhite, but he has brown speckles on his nose, wwhich are really cute because he looks like he's got freckles! You knoww, the proper name for him is hippocampus barbouri... I wwanted to get a couple a different seahorses, but they're so hard to maintain. And They're bloody expensivve."

He was trying very hard not to talk too much, but he really did love talking about his pets, and was very passionate about them.

"Hey Sol, I think that you're a dolphin sorta guy." Eridan said, trying to goad Sollux into joining the conversation.

"A dolphin?" Sollux asked quietly.

"Yeah, I bet you think they're fuckin' majestic. I bet you'd put a saddle on it, an ride the fucker around." Eridan prodded.

"Are you trying to pith me off, Eridan?" Sollux laughed weakly, "Dolphinth are thuper gay."

Eridan grinned, he had finally gotten Sollux to sound a little like his usual self, "you can't be judgemental like that, Sol. Wwasn't it you that said you don't care wwhat's in someones pants? Wwhy can't your dolphin love other dolphins wwithout your fuckin' judgement?"

"True, true. Dolphinth can love whatever they want, but it doethn't change the fact that riding a thaddled dolphin would be really fucking gay." Sollux replied.

"You wwouldn't care. You wwould still fuckin' do it."

Sollux's voice was much stronger now, "what!? Why am I dithcuthing the thexuality of fucking _dolphinth_ with you anyway!? I don't even _like_ them!" He shouted, "and another thing, if either of uth ith going to _'thaddle up' _an animal, it'll be you and a thtupid theahorthe!"

Eridan hadn't been expecting that, but he flowed with it, "I wwould. I really wwould. And I wwould look glorious on a giant seahorse, Sol. You don't evven knoww."

There was a heartbeat of silence, neither one knowing what to say, then they both began laughing loudly. Images of Eridan sat atop a snow-white seahorse, his hair long and flowing, filled both of their heads.

Wiping a tear from his eye, Eridan suppressed his laughter for long enough to ask, "you alright, Sollux? Feelin' a bit better noww that you'vve discovvered my secret callin' a bein' a seahorse tamer?"

Sollux continued to snigger for a little bit before responding, "you know what, I actually do. Thankth for talking tho much shit, Eridan."

"No problem." Eridan leant against a wall, then decided to just go for it, "you knoww, if you're not busy tomorroww, wwe could go out for a drink, after I finish wwork? Talk more shit?"

It may have been because he was feeling so grateful, but Sollux couldn't think of anything he'd rather do. "Yeah, okay. I finish work at 5, tho any time after that'th good for me."

Eridan felt ecstatic, "I finish at 4, so... Yeah. Wwhenevver you wwant." He tried to sound as casual as possible.

"I'll come collect you at thix then?"

"Sure. See you then."

"Later, Eridan."

"Bye, Sollux."

Eridan pressed the end call button, and stood there staring at his phone, completely bewildered. Then he laughed out loud, and ran a hand through his messy bed head. He had been so worried that he and Sollux weren't going to stay in contact after today, and now they were going out for drinks! As Eridan climbed the stairs back to his bedroom, only one thought was haunting him.

What should he wear?

-.-

Sollux lay in bed, his chest felt a little less tight, and his mind was much clearer. He never thought that Eridan would have been so good at keeping him distracted from the thinking about the accident. He plugged the charger wire into his phone, and closed his eyes. While thoughts of going out for drinks filled his head, he drifted into a very light, dreamless sleep.


	19. Eridan: Work Part 1

Thank you again for the views, reviews, and for favouriting this story! I can't thank you all enough!

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Eridan's eyes snapped open as his alarm began blaring. It was 8AM, and he needed to be at work for 11 o'clock.

He groaned and covered his ears with his pillow, trying in vain to block out the treacherous noise-maker. Eridan didn't really have very long to have to ponder about how life was unfair, because Feferi began kicking him out of bed while screaming, "knock that glubbing carp off, Eridan!"

"OW! Fuck Fef! Stop!" Eridan scrambled out of bed and landed on the floor, and then promptly jumped up and turned off his phones alarm. He glared at Feferi, who was staring right back at him with her eyes narrowed.

She curled herself into a ball, and wrapped herself up completely in the quilt. Eridan heard her muttering from the nest she'd made herself, "I'm going to go back to sleep Eridan, and when you're finished with your morning routine, I'll get up. Okay?"

"Isn't that the way we usually do things?" Eridan smirked. He ducked as a pillow came flying at his head; Feferi had surprisingly good aim for someone whose vision was obscured by a thick quilt. "Alright, I'll be out in an hour or so."

He heard Feferi laugh disbelievingly, as he left the room. Eridan decided to use his spare bathroom downstairs to have his shower, as he didn't want to keep Feferi awake by using his regular one that was attached to his bedroom.

This shower room was much smaller; it held a sink, a toilet and a small standing-shower. Eridan sulked as he walked in; he wished that he could enjoy the large, luxurious bathroom upstairs. He missed his claw-footed bath tub, his shelves of products, and his much wider walk-in shower. His personal bathroom was one of the biggest rooms in his house, and rightly so, because he spent a lot of his day in there.

Eridan turned the taps, and listened to the hiss and patter of the water. As he waited for the water to warm up, he looked at himself in the mirror. He had to double-take as he saw the mess his hair was in.

He pulled faces at himself, poking his tongue out and scrunching up his nose, then puffing his cheeks out and going cross-eyed. After exhausting himself of all the ways he knew how to make himself look stupid, he relaxed his face and stared at his reflection.

There were shadowy bags under his eyes. Eridan frowned; this was all Sollux's fault! His frown softened, he remembered how scared Sollux had sounded when they had spoken last night.

Steam began to creep out of the shower, and Eridan shook his head free of the dark thoughts that had begun clawing their way into his mind. He freed himself of the baggy shirt and jogging bottoms he'd been wearing to sleep in, and scrutinised his body in the small, mounted mirror.

Eridan was slimly built, but he had a muscle definition that had taken years to build up. He had worked very hard to look the way he did, and felt nothing but pride for himself.

Feeling a little better, Eridan stepped into the stream of water, and began washing away all of his tensions. He was very pleased with himself when he saw that he had remembered to put some of his favourite shampoo and conditioner into this bathroom. Eridan's favourite hair washing products smelled like coconut this month, last month he had loved tangerine, and he'd probably have another new favourite flavour in a few weeks time.

Eridan began following his very strict shower routine. First he stood under the water to get his hair wet enough, then he scrubbed his hair with shampoo, washed it off, then repeated. He thought it was important to use shampoo twice, as he used hair products, and this way he was sure his hair was definitely clean. After this, he used conditioner, massaging it through his hair with his fingers. While he waited for the conditioner to _'do its thing' _he washed his body with a coconut exfoliating scrub, and washed everything off his hair and body all at once.

Eridan had followed this pattern for years, and took great comfort in the familiarity of it.

With the shower now turned off, Eridan stepped out onto the grey bathmat, and grabbed a towel off the back of the door. He dried himself as quickly as he could, then wrapped the wet towel around his waist; in his rush to shower, he had forgotten to grab any new clothes to wear. So he gathered up his things and trudged back upstairs to his room, where the only part of Feferi that was visible was her very long hair.

Eridan threw his old clothes into the laundry hamper in his bathroom, then returned to his room to scour his wardrobe for his work uniform. It wasn't hard to miss. With flared nostrils and thin lips, Eridan pulled the bright red shirt and shorts out and groaned. He understood that they were supposed to be a bright colour for visual reasons, but he really hated them. He closed the wardrobe doors, and walked a little closer to the bed, noting that he could no longer see Feferi's wild hair covering her pillow. He dropped the uniform on the railing frame at the end of his bed, and turned his back on the disgustingly bright outfit.

Suddenly he felt a sharp tug on his towel, and it fell from his hips leaving Eridan standing stark naked. "FUCK, FEF PACK IT IN!" He screamed, turning around to face his bed as he bent to grab his towel.

Feferi was still hiding under the quilt, only her arm was uncovered. It had snaked its way through the bars of the bed-frame, and was now retreating quickly. Her giggles were muffled, "I'm sorry Eridan! I just, I couldn't kelp myself!" She squealed, finally sitting up. She had the quilt covering herself in the same way that Eridan was hiding beneath his towel.

They were sat on their bums, with their knees brought up, and both quilt and towel were wrapped firmly around the shoulders of the respective holders, covering anything below. Feferi's face was pink from giggling, and Eridan's face was a deep maroon, he glared at her.

"Wwhat the fuck, Fef!?"

"Oh, don't be such a grumpy gills!" Feferi giggled.

"I'm not bein' a grumpy gills, that scared the ever-lovin' shit out a me, Fef! I didn't knoww if you had your head covvered or not! Don't _do_ that!" Eridan was flushed, and very embarrassed.

"Oh shush, Eridan. I didn't look. I wouldn't look." Feferi grinned, and finally got out of the bed.

Eridan mumbled incoherently, then said, "wwell, don't."

Feferi leant down next to Eridan, and ruffled his wet hair, "I'm sorry, I'll make us some breakfast. Sound good?"

Eridan narrowed his eyes, "You wwere gunna make breakfast anywway!"

"Eeeeeyup! But now, I'll make something other than cereal!" She stood up, and skipped out of the room.

Eridan pulled his head down into the towel-cocoon he was hiding in, and groaned. He didn't find that sort of joke funny, but Feferi always found it hilarious to embarrass him like that. After brooding for a minute, Eridan stood up, and kicked the bedroom door closed.

He pulled on some new boxers and socks, then dressed himself in his uniform. Grimacing as he did.

-.-

Feferi heard the hairdryer being turned on, and knew she had plenty of time to start cooking. She giggled to herself as she searched the fridge for something to cook.

-.-

Eridan had finished drying his hair when he could faintly smell bacon wafting upwards from the kitchen. He combed his hair and added a little hairspray, then decided that he was indeed hungry enough for breakfast.

He walked into the kitchen with a look of disdain spread across his face, "I hate not bein' able to do my hair properly." He muttered to Feferi as he sat down at the table.

"Eridan, you know you can't. It'll get messed up at work, and then you'll just get fished off." She brought the frying pan over the Eridan, and began transferring the bacon to a plate. "Look, let's have ourshellves a nice breakfast, okey dokey mr. Grumpy Gills?"

Eridan tried very hard not to smile at her chipper attitude. He helped himself to a few slices of bread and some bacon, as Feferi poured a glass of juice for each of them. When she sat down opposite and began fixing herself a bacon sandwich, Eridan spoke.

"Sollux rang me last night." He said, taking a bite of sandwich.

"What? When?"

"At around four. He was pretty fuckin' upset about somethin'." Eridan watched Feferi's face become very concerned.

"Oh, is he okay?"

Eridan waved his hand and nodded as he finished chewing a big bite of bacon, "Yeah, I talked to him, and he was okay by the end of it. We're actually goin' out for drinks tonight." Eridan refused to make eye contact with Feferi as he said this.

"Eridan! I'm so-" Feferi began, then she stopped, "Eridan. Eridan? Eridan!" She began waving her hands, and clicking her fingers, as Eridan pretended that the side of the juice carton was the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

"Eridaaaan..!" Feferi said, her voice sounding like a warning.

He slowly looked up and met Feferi's eyes, "...Yes?"

"Eridan, this is amazing news! Why are you acting so fishy about it?" She asked, folding her arms.

"Because I don't want you to make it into a big deal, Fef. It's just a drink! Nothing else!"

Feferi shrugged, "fine, but that's not a good attitude to have!" She grinned and began eating again. "So, have you thought about what you're going to wear?"

They ate as much as they could; chatting happily about anything that Eridan could distract Feferi with, until it was nearly time to go. Feferi got herself dressed as Eridan readied a change of clothes in a bag. Then they jostled each other at the sink trying to brush their teeth.

Eridan locked the front door when they left, then checked, double-checked, and triple-checked it was locked.

Feferi insisted on going in her car rather than Eridan's, and he gave up arguing after he realised that they would be late if they didn't leave soon. So he sat in the passenger seat, with his own and Feferi's bags on his lap. As she climbed into the driving seat he scowled at her.

"Let's go!" Feferi squealed as she put the key in the ignition and drove the car away from the house.


	20. Eridan: Work Part 2

When you find out what Eridan's job is, I promise you won't be that impressed :D I am not a master of suspense at all.

Anyway, thank you all ever so much again for all of the favourites and reviews! You're all too kind! :)

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As they pulled into an employee parking space, Eridan groaned and pressed his face against the car's passenger side window.

Feferi unbuckled her own seatbelt, then turned to face Eridan, "what's wrong, Eridan?" She asked gently.

He made an exasperated noise, "I'm just too tired to be dealin' with screamin' kids an their fuckin' families."

After leaning over and unbuckling Eridan's seatbelt, Feferi put a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "you don't have to do this you know. Your dad already gives you money, so it's not like you have to worry about rent or food!" She said sounding very chipper, "I'm shore your dad would be more than happy to hear that you'll work on the family business."

Eridan shrank away from his best friend's hand. When he was younger he had relished in the fact that his family was wealthy, he even looked down his nose at the other children believing that they were inferior. Fortunately, this attitude began to change as the years passed, and he began to realise that a lot of people actually looked down their noses at him _because_ of his wealth.

He turned to look at Feferi with sad eyes, she was the heiress of her own fortune, and also the only person he knew that could understand how he felt, but Feferi had embraced her future as she got older. Probably because her mother had somehow persuaded her a couple of years ago. Of course, this didn't stop Feferi from going to university to learn all about marine biology in the meantime.

Eridan shook his head in an attempt to clear it, "Fef, I'm doin' this and workin' here for me. You know that. I'll be fine once I get in, come on, let's go."

After locking the car, Feferi linked her arm with Eridan's; they walked together in silence until they reached the front doors. The smell of chlorine rushed over them, Feferi smiled widely as she took in a deep breath, "whale, I'm off. I'll sea you inside!" She grabbed her bag, which had been hanging off Eridan's arm, and waved excitedly as she pushed another set of doors open and disappeared behind them.

Eridan waved weakly back, then ran a hand over his face. He was much too tired to be working today.

Eridan walked numbly towards the door marked 'employees only', and made a bee-line straight for his locker. He stuffed his bag inside, and pressed his forehead against it, barely feeling the cool metal against his skin. After a moment of wallowing, he straightened up, put his game face on and got to work.

-.-

Eridan coolly surveyed his surroundings from his perch; beneath him were the people who were all his responsibility. His eyes swept over his domain, searching for the tell-tale signs that someone required his assistance. One particular group of teenage girls caught his attention; they had been clustered together for about 10 minutes, staring at him and giggling with each other.

There didn't appear to be anyone that needed him, but Eridan remained vigilant, keeping his eyes peeled for any distressing movements in the water.

After all, Eridan was a lifeguard at an indoor swimming centre, and he'd never allow anyone to drown on his watch.

He shifted position in his chair, trying to stop his lower extremities from becoming numb, and fiddled with the small whistle that hung around his neck.

Eridan jumped off his chair the second he saw someone thrashing around in the deepest end of the pool, his instincts took over as his head was filled with the high pitched screaming. He dived into the water and reached the person in a few seconds. The only thing he could think of was getting to the person in time.

He held the thrashing person close to him, and lifted their head out from under the water, then swam back to the edge of the pool with them still in his arms. Eridan looked at the person he had saved; she was a teenage girl wearing a pale yellow bikini, her long hair stuck to her skin. Eridan recognised her as one of the girls that had been gawking at him earlier. He helped her climb out of the pool, then he followed her. They stood together.

"Are you okay? Wwhat happened!?" Eridan asked loudly, his heart thudded in his chest.

The girl looked at him coyly, she glanced at her group of friends who were standing next to Eridan's high chair before answering, "oh, I... My leg! It seized up, the muscle... I just went under and couldn't swim!"

Eridan's eyes narrowed, "your leg?"

"Yes! It might've been a cramp, or something." She smiled sweetly.

Eridan lowered his voice and leant a little closer, "if your leg had cramped only seconds ago, how are you standing without any trouble now?" He held her wavering gaze sternly.

"I... Uhm... I..." She put her hands behind her back, and wouldn't make eye contact with him.

"You do NOT pretend to drown you stupid child. How DARE you _pretend to drown_." Eridan's voice was a harsh whisper, he resisted the urge to swear at her, "you an your little friends had better not try this again, or I swear I will NOT be as forgivin'. Get out a my sight. NOW." He watched her eyes widen and her mouth drop open dramatically, but she turned and ran to her friends. "An no runnin'!" Eridan shouted after her.

Soaking wet and thoroughly miserable, Eridan climbed back into his chair. He pulled his towel off the back of it, and began drying himself as much as he could, grumbling the entire time. His hair was now wet, and that pissed him off more than having to sit in his soggy clothes did.

"What was that a-boat, Eridan?"

Eridan looked down and saw Feferi by his side, "some kid was pretendin' to drown. I just don't even understand how that even happens, Fef."

Feferi spun around to look at the teenagers, who were glancing over their shoulders as they left. "What a dumb way to get a bouy's attention. They should have just tried _glubbing_ with you."

"Fuck that. I can't fuckin' stand these squealin' teenagers. They piss me off." Eridan turned his attention back to the pool.

Feferi giggled, "whale, I'm going to keep swimming until I get bored. Then I might go get something from the canteen... Then I'll probably swim some more!" She walked away, then dropped herself into the water. Eridan watched her for a few seconds as she began swimming, Feferi looked as if she was born to live in the water.

The day dragged on; and other than having to tell some kids to stop running, it was relatively event-free. Eridan thanked his lucky stars when 4 o'clock came around, and resisted the urge to skip to his locker to retrieve his bag. He locked himself in one of the employee changing cubicles; he removed his dry outfit from his bag, then peeled the wet clothes from his body. After throwing the wet uniform into the bag, he was finally able to put his dry clothes on; it was a simple combination of blue jeans and a black shirt, after all, he was going to have the next few hours to decide on what he could _really_ wear for the nights event.

When he finally got to the car, Feferi was wailing along to the radio, shaking her head as she drummed her hands on the steering wheel. As he sat down, Feferi turned the radio off, "hey Eridan! How was work?"

Eridan groaned loudly, "boring as hell. I just want to get home an have a shower."

"Again!? Oooo! Of course, you want to get nice and pretty for your daaate!" Feferi said smugly, starting the car. She didn't look at Eridan because she knew exactly what face he was pulling.

"It's not a fuckin' date, Fef." Eridan snapped, he folded his arms and pouted all the way home.

-.-

Eridan was thrilled to have been able to use his larger, personal bathroom where he enjoyed an extra long, steamy shower. The warm water and smell of coconut helped relax him, and the days stresses dissolved.

He wore only a pair of boxer shorts as he blow-dried his hair, and Feferi sat on his bed awaiting the inevitable two-dozen outfit changes that Eridan would demand critiquing for. Eridan spent nearly half an hour perfecting his hair, finally feeling comfortable and attractive again.

Getting dressed without messing up his hairstyle was something that Eridan had learned to perfect over the years, and something that he was quite proud of being able to do. His first outfit was a dark suit with a white shirt and black tie, his face dropped as Feferi gave him a thumbs down.

"If you're so shore it's knot a date, you can't wear something so... Fancy. You'll be sending the wrong signals."

Eridan pulled a sour face at Feferi as he walked back into the bathroom to try on another outfit. 10 minutes later, Eridan emerged wearing a navy blue t-shirt and black jeans. "Too relaxed?" He asked.

"Uhh, not relaxed." Feferi's nostrils flared. "You look like a tramp."

"Thanks a whole fuckin' lot, Fef." Eridan kicked his laundry basket as he began to mope. He just wanted to look nice, without looking as if he was trying too hard. This was getting too frustrating for him.

Eridan looked at all of the clothes he had pulled into the bathroom to pick from, he decided that he would throw caution to the wind. He finally found something, and almost crossed his fingers as he got dressed.

"So? Wwhat do you think?" Eridan stuttered as he opened the bathroom door.

Feferi's face lit up, "excellent! Eridan you look fintastic!" She jumped off the bed and pulled him into a tight hug. Eridan pulled away from her and looked at himself in the mirror. He was wearing bright white, skinny-fit jeans, with a lilac and grey argyle sweater, a short purple scarf and a pair of white leather shoes.

"Whale, I better get going before your date gets here!" Feferi ran away before Eridan could say or do anything. He heard the front door slam shut, and sighed.

"It's not a fuckin' date." He muttered.

-.-

Eridan sat in his living room, nervously watching the clock. He grew more and more anxious as the seconds ticked past.

A loud knock at the door made Eridan jump up, and wring his hands. He double-checked that he had his phone, keys and wallet in his tight pockets, then opened the front door.

Sollux stood on the doorstep, looking up at Eridan.

"Tho, ready to go?"


	21. Sollux: Getting Ready

This is a long one! But I swear next chapter is going to be my favourite so far, and I'll have it up ASAP :)

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The day had dragged on for what felt like an eternity. Sollux worked in a large computer retail store, and he hated every moment he was there. Most of his work days were spent helping some of the most clueless, ignorant bastards buy systems that would cost more money than Sollux would earn in a month.

The thing that Sollux enjoyed most about any day he had to go to this soul destroying shit-hole, was the walk home. He would put his headphones in, turn his music up to full volume and ignore the world. Today was no different; he scuffed his feet along the ground as he walked, caring only about getting home and relaxing.

It took him about 45 minutes to reach the front door to the apartment building. Before he unlocked it, he pulled his headphones out of his ears and wrapped them around his mp3 player. Sollux unlocked the door, and stepped into the bright hallway; he quickly made his way to the only other door on that floor, which he knew would be unlocked.

"Hey KK." Sollux said as he walked into the kitchen, he closed the door behind him and began searching the cupboards for a snack.

Karkat stopped buttering the toast he had just made, and watched Sollux carefully. "Hey Sollux. How was work?"

Sollux turned to look at Karkat, he didn't like the tone of voice his friend was using, "it wath fine. Why?"

Karkat waved his arms around, still holding the knife and toast, "oh I don't fucking know, maybe because I had a thousand missed calls on my fucking phone, and a messed up answer phone message! You wouldn't know anything about that would you!?"

"Thtop acting like a raving douche, KK! I'm fucking fine now! I jutht had a shit night ith all." Sollux moved out of the way of Karkat's thrashing arms.

"_I'm_ the douche!? I'm pretty sure I broke the fucking speed limit trying to get home to you! I thought you might've... That you could've..." Karkat stopped flailing and looked at the floor. "I wasn't here for you." He forced out.

Sollux felt his chest sink, last night he had been so frantically scared that he had felt furious with his best friend for being at work; he reached out a hand, and touched Karkat's shoulder, "I didn't mean to worry you. I'm fine now."

Karkat shrugged Sollux's hand off, "yeah well, you seemed pretty okay when I checked up on you. How'd you get to sleep anyway? I figured you'd be up until I got home."

"I jutht talked to thomeone." Sollux began rooting through the cupboards again.

"You didn't phone up that piss-sucking bitch ex of yours, did you?" Karkat took a large bite out of his toast, "because that would be a massive fucking mistake."

"No. I didn't call _her_."

Karkat froze mid-chew. "No, of course not." He pointed a butter-covered finger at Sollux accusingly, "you called a guy! And not just any fucking guy! You called _HIM_."

Sollux rolled his eyes; he could almost hear the cogs winding in Karkat's head. "And who would thith _'him' _be exthactly?"

"You called Eridan."

The smarmy tone Karkat was speaking with grated on Sollux's nerves. He felt the familiar tendrils of anger clawing at the back on his head. "KK, I'm not in the mood for the obnoxiouth shit that I am sure will burtht forward at any moment, okay?" He warned.

Karkat frowned, "admit it, you called Eridan. After all these years of calling him a douche bag and a dip-shit, now you're fucking getting along with him!"

The rage was crawling through his mind now, discolouring every thought, "I had no other choithe." Sollux's voice was low.

"I knew it, you guys were always so alike. The anger issues, the blatant homo feels."

Sollux gripped the kitchen counter; he was no longer just frustrated by the constant joking; now he felt the hostility burning the backs of his eyes.

Karkat continued, "it's hard to get anything past my superior intellect. After all, I fucking knew this would happen, I fucking called it! I'm a-"

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH!"

Karkat's mouth snapped shut involuntarily as Sollux punched the top of the counter.

They stood completely still, the tension hung heavily around them. Karkat knew not to say anything, he had to wait for Sollux to make the first move, otherwise he risked making him even more pissed off.

Sollux focused on the pain in his knuckles, it helped him clear his mind of the angry thoughts. "Jutht thtop it, KK. I really can't be bothered to thit through another one of your thelf indulgent rantth, okay?" He spoke slowly.

Karkat moved to stand next to Sollux, he put a hand on his back reassuringly, "sorry I pushed you. I should've listened."

Sollux flinched under the touch; he hated it when most people touched him, especially if they had just pissed him off this much. Even so, he allowed Karkat to continue. He nearly screamed when he felt another hand suddenly grab his shoulder. He whipped around and saw Gamzee.

"Hey best friends, are we all getting our friendship on?" His eyes were lidded, and his pupils large, "I just couldn't help myself, I had to get in on all the loving before it disappeared."

As Karkat tried not to laugh, Sollux brought a hand up and pinched the bridge of his own nose. He let out an annoyed groan as his friends continued patting him. He felt Gamzee start using two hands and heard him say, "it's impossible for a motherfucker to be unhappy with all this trading of good feelings happening."

Sollux stepped out of the reach of his friend's hands, "alright that'th enough for me. I think I've had enough friendship-feelingth crap today."

Gamzee nodded and opened the fridge, as he stuck his head inside looking for food he said, "bet you feel all warm and tingly inside. Probably so full of the good stuff you could float away."

Sollux looked at Karkat and pulled a confused face, Karkat just shrugged. They left the kitchen together, and Karkat started up a new conversation. "So, I'm here tonight, we can do whatever you want, want to watch a movie or something together?"

Sollux grimaced, "that thoundth awful, KK. I really don't want to watch thome shitty romcom while you bitch and cry about it. Bethideth, I already made planth to go out."

"Okay firstly, you jizz loving cock-bag, I don't 'bitch and cry', okay?" Karkat stopped in the living room as Sollux reached the bottom of the stairs, "and secondly, since when do you have plans to go out on a Saturday night?"

"Well if you mutht know, after Eridan talked me down latht night, he athked if I wanted to hang out today after work." Sollux had been hoping to avoid telling Karkat about his plans with Eridan, mostly because of how his friend had acted a few minutes ago.

Karkat smiled knowingly, "so where you two going? His, here or a public place?"

"We're going out for drinkth." Sollux began climbing the stairs.

Karkat struggled to hold a serious face, "Sollux, don't let that hipster shit-for-brains get you drunk. He might try to touch your no-no parts."

Sollux rolled his eyes and continued stomping up the stairs, refusing to give a response. Karkat screamed after him, "don't let the bad hipster man soil my baby boy! Sollux! Heed my warnings! SOOLLUUUX!" Karkat was now struggling to control his laughter.

After slamming his bedroom door closed, Sollux dropped himself onto his beanbag. He needed to get dressed and ready to go out, but his mind was still buzzing with frustration. Sollux was thankful that he had showered that morning, because he definitely did not have time now.

There was a light knocking sound at his door, and Sollux looked up to see Karkat peeking his head around it, "hey, I'm not here to piss you off or try and get a reaction out of you, I just wanted to ask you something and get an honest answer."

"That dependth what you athk." Sollux replied curtly.

Karkat stepped into the room, careful not to stand on any of the items that were spread across the floor, "are you and Eridan _friends_ now?" He asked.

Sollux opened his mouth to answer, but couldn't find any words. He honestly didn't know what he considered Eridan to be. "I don't know... Maybe. It might be too early dayth for that jutht yet. I mean, it'th uth... We hated each other tho much that I'm thurprithed that we even thpoke to each other when we thaw each other in the library thith week. Who knowth if we're even going to thtill thpeak in a few weekth or monthth time."

Karkat nodded, "well, I will say this; you trusted him enough to call him when you were having a shit time... And now you're going outside on a Saturday night. He seems to be doing something right." Karkat opened the door to leave, "maybe he isn't such a jizz loving cock-bag."

"That'th what you called _me_." Sollux replied.

"And I meant it." Karkat grinned as he left.

Sollux sat and considered the situation. When the depression and panic had clouded his mind, Eridan really had seemed like the only viable option, what with Karkat out of the picture. He hadn't really wondered _why_, he was just glad that the egotistical ass complied and helped.

With a thousand thoughts blowing around his mind, Sollux finally stood up and walked over to the wardrobe. He needed to find something that would make him look presentable, or at least, a little less like a homeless person. Sollux pulled out many shirts, the majority of them either being black or stained with something like toothpaste or food, and groaned. He didn't really have anything "sensible" to wear, asides from the white suit-shirt that he wore for any formal occasion he couldn't find an excuse to avoid.

Sollux removed his dark blue work shirt, and dumped it on the floor; then he pulled the clean white shirt off a hanger. He slipped it on, and buttoned it up.

Looking in the mirror with a grim face, Sollux argued with himself about whether or not he should wear a tie, and then decided against it. After all, they were only going out for drinks; it wasn't anything stupid like a date.

He pulled on a pair of black trousers, and found a matching pair of black shoes. He was going to be late; the clock said that it was 17:55; Sollux considered throwing a boot at Karkat for distracting him for so long.

Feeling a little self-conscious about how dressed-up he looked, Sollux decided to neatly roll up his sleeves to look a little more casual. Lastly he grabbed a thick black jumper in case it was cold when it was time to come home. With his phone, keys and wallet safely tucked away in his trouser pockets, it was time to go.

Sollux jogged downstairs, and laughed at Karkat who was sat in the living room with a romcom starting up on the TV, he was wearing baggy jogging bottoms and a fluffy grey dressing gown. They both stuck their middle fingers up at each other as Sollux ran past, and he left the apartment feeling the usual sickly anticipation that arose from his anxiety.

Sollux jogged through the familiar streets, remembering where Eridan's house was quite easily. After a few minutes he could see the out of place-looking house stuck between two apartment buildings, he gave one last little burst of speed to reach the front door. Sollux stopped to breathe heavily for a moment, the jog had really taken the wind out of him, but he brought his hand up to the door and knocked a little louder than he meant to. He walked down the steps, and waited for Eridan to answer the door.

His breath caught in his throat when Eridan appeared. He looked immaculate, and dressed perfectly to show off all of his best features.

Sollux struggled to speak, but finally managed to say, "tho, ready to go?" though his mouth felt as if it was full of cotton wool.

Eridan turned to lock the door, and Sollux took the opportunity to check out the bright white trousers Eridan had on. He barely even realised that Eridan was speaking.

"I hate to make a tradition of us meetin' and gettin' a meal, but I am starved, so I need to go somewhere that serves food, okay?"

Sollux watched Eridan jiggling and pulling at the door handle, despite the fact it was blatantly locked, "sure, thoundth alright, I'll probably only have thomething little, I filled up on shitty junk food today." He said.

Finally satisfied that the door was, in fact, locked, Eridan joined Sollux at the bottom of the steps, and together they began walking into town.


	22. Drinks, Fights and a Good Night

This chapter will be long and quite eventful. It's my personal favourite that I've written so far, and I hope you all enjoy it! Especially the last bit ;)

Please excuse the rude language :0

Thank you all for continuing to read, and for reviewing and favouriting! It really really does mean the world to me c:

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Sollux didn't have much of a 'night-life', so he let Eridan make the decision of where they should go. "Tho, do you have any ideath for where we can go?" Sollux asked.

"Well, there's a pub I went to with some people from class, it's nice an they do some pretty good food. If you don't mind me choosin'." Eridan smirked.

The rest of the walk was punctuated with strained small-talk, but after a while this turned into dramatic complaining from Eridan. "I swear, if I don't eat soon, I'll die." He whined, quickening his walking pace.

"You're not going to _die_ you dumb-ath, shut up."

"Look at me, Sollux, I'm fuckin' wastin' away! Why aren't you concerned for my well bein'?" He looked Sollux in the eye, and lowered his voice to sound more serious, "if I die from starvation I'm goin' to land on top a you, and make sure I crush you to death. If I'm dyin' I'm takin' you with me."

Sollux laughed, "you couldn't crush a paper bag."

"Whatever Sollux, I'm fuckin' buff as hell under this," Eridan gently pulled at the fabric of his jumper, "I'm a fuckin' beefcake."

This only made Sollux laugh harder.

An old-looking pub finally came into view at the end of the road, and Eridan began power-walking towards it, "that's the place, Sollux! Look! My fuckin' saviour!"

Sollux grimaced as he struggled to keep up with Eridan.

When they walked into the pub, Eridan led Sollux to a booth in the furthest corner, "I'll be more comfortable if we're out a the way." He said as they reached the table.

Sollux shimmied himself along the wide seat until he was sat in the middle; Eridan sat down opposite him, grabbing a menu as he did. After a very brief moment he passed the menu to Sollux as he said, "I'm gettin' a burger, what do you want?"

"Probably jutht thome frieth, I ate a load of junk for lunch." Sollux watched Eridan roll his eyes and click his tongue.

A server came over to their booth with a small notepad, she flipped through it as she walked, "ready to order, guys?"

Eridan could have hugged her for being so prompt, "definitely. I would like the beef burger, no salad or sauces please, and fries. Oh, an we'll order our drinks at the bar."

She wrote it all down with a smile on her face, then turned to Sollux, "and for you?"

Sollux froze. There were days when he didn't give a shit about lisping in front of random strangers, or when he could come up with whole conversations avoiding any words that included an 'S', but there were also days when he felt his mind go numb and he couldn't come up with anything. He swallowed the lump in his throat, trying to come up with something. He didn't care that he had just been lisping in front of Eridan, this was different, she was a stranger. Shit, should he order something else? _Shit, shit, shit!_

"He'll have a portion of fries, please. He's been eatin' crap all day." Eridan flashed a smile at the server, and she giggled as she left with the order. Looking at the bar he asked, "what drink do you want? I'm havin' a whiskey an coke."

"Uhh, I'll have thouthern comfort and lemonade, pleathe." Sollux replied quietly. As Eridan began to get up, Sollux added, "thank you."

Eridan stood up and looked at Sollux, "no problem. You looked uncomfortable... Plus I really wanted my burger an you were takin' too long."

"You're an ath." Sollux tried to hide the smile that threatened to appear. His eyes never left Eridan as he walked past the dark wooden tables, and up to the bar. Sollux hardly noticed that the smile had managed to sneak it's way onto his face; Eridan stood out like a ghost against all the deep reds and browns of the furniture and upholstery. He folded his arms on the table, and rested his head on top of them; he continued to watch Eridan , and noticed some little quirks, like the way he tapped his foot and drummed his fingers on the bar, and also how he fiddled with his scarf.

He forced himself to look away as Eridan began to return a minute or so later, with four glasses in-hand.

"What, You not in the mood to help me with these?" Eridan complained as he struggled to put the drinks on the table without spilling any.

Sollux quickly attempted to help; he steadied Eridan's wobbling hands with his own, and they managed to set the glasses down without any spillages.

"Thank you." Eridan said curtly, "I got us two each so that we don't have to go up again in five minutes."

"Cheerth." Sollux shifted himself to get comfortable, and tasted the first drink. He glanced up and saw Eridan swallow half of his own in one mouthful, "you needed that?" He commented.

Eridan nodded and raised his eyebrows, "oh fuck yes. I have had a fuckin' doozy of a day."

Sollux rested his head on his hand, "yeah? Wath work that bad?" He asked.

"Shit yes. Lifeguardin' has it's good days, but you wouldn't fuckin' _believe_ the amount of idiots I have to deal with on a daily basis, I mean, my God! But today takes the ever-lovin' biscuit." Eridan crossed his arms over his chest, "some stupid bitch pretended to drown just so that I'd jump in and save her."

"What? That'th fucking thtupid!" Sollux's lip curled upwards, "what the fuck ith wrong with people?"

Eridan drank another large swig, then nodded, "I know. I know. It's because of shit like this that I lost faith in humanity."

Sollux laughed, "well I deal with thome shockingly inthufferable ath-holeth at the computer shop. They know _dick_ about the thtuff they're buying, but will shell out a fucking bomb for it! I could thell thome of them a fucking microwave, and they wouldn't even notithe."

Eridan grinned and nodded, "you should just do it one day, see if anyone _does_ notic- aww shit, here's the food!" His attention veered off as he saw the server walk over carrying his large burger and a bowl of fries. Eridan's face lit up like christmas as the food was placed in front of him. "Thank you!" He exclaimed.

Sollux caught himself smiling once again at the almost child-like innocence that shone through on Eridan's face, he turned to the server, "thank you very much." He said.

"Just go up to the bar if there's anything else you want, enjoy your meals!" She smiled as she left them to eat.

Eridan looked giddy with excitement as he studied his plate of food. As Sollux shook salt over his own fries, he noticed something and frowned. Eridan was pushing his burger away from his fries using a knife; he also opened the burger to inspect it, removing the few pieces of onion from it.

"What _are_ you doing?" Sollux asked.

Eridan looked up, "what?"

"_That_, you're being _weird_." Sollux said, motioning towards Eridan's plate with a fry, "did you do that when we got food yethterday?"

"do what?" Eridan asked, clearly not understanding what Sollux was trying to hint at.

"Theperate your food, you knob."

Eridan looked a little ashamed, "oh, you noticed that. Yeah, I hate it when food touches. It's bad, I know."

Sollux shrugged, "do what you want, I'm not complaining. I jutht can't remember theeing you do it latht time, ith all."

"Oh, yeah, I pretty much do it subconsciously now." Clearly embarrassed and a little uncomfortable, Eridan tried to change the subject, "so tell me about Mituna. You clearly care about him a lot if you were willin' to sacrifice half your cake for him."

Sollux picked up his drink and finished it in a few large gulps, "shit, we're already thtarting with the family thtuff. Alright, he'th my twin brother, and he'th probably the motht important perthon in my life."

Eridan took full advantage of the time Sollux spent talking to stuff his face full of burger, "mm-hmm."

"Yeah, he liveth at home with dad. He'th got a girlfriend, who'th pretty perfect for him. I dont know what to thay, he'th jutht Mituna." Sollux shrugged and started eating his fries.

"Wait, if he's your twin, why wasn't he in any classes with you?" Eridan asked.

Sollux groaned, he'd been hoping that he wouldn't have to explain anything, "fuck, he went to the... Thpecialithed learning thchool that was next door to highthchool. Didn't you ever notithe that I left five minuteth early at the end of the day? That wath tho that he had thomeone to pick him up."

Eridan chewed his food thoughtfully, after swallowing he said, "I _did_ notice you left early, but I never really paid much attention to it. I feel like such an ass, I would've walked with you."

"Eridan. I hate to break it to you, but we dethpithed each other, that would've been hell for both of uth." Sollux smirked, "why do you feel like an ath, anyway? I wouldn't have wanted you to walk with uth!"

"That's just fuckin' rude, Sollux." Eridan grinned. He knew that they really would've fought all the way home, but he still felt guilty for never meeting Mituna.

"Tho, tell me about your family then." Sollux started on his second drink.

"Fuck, really?" Eridan had already finished one of his whiskey and cokes, and he followed Sollux in starting on the second, "alright. Well, I have an older brother, he's twenty-seven, and he's the one who's goin' to inherit the family business. And I've also got my dad, who's currently runnin' the family business. Fuck, Sollux, do we have to? I thought you would've heard all about this shit from Fef."

"What? Why would FF tell me about _your_ family?" Sollux asked, raising an eyebrow.

Eridan spluttered, "because it's her family too! She's my step-sister, you fuckin' dolt!"

Sollux dropped the handful of fries he was holding, "what? Thinthe when!?"

"Her mother married my dad when we were sixteen. They'd been together at that point for about eight years or so," Eridan nearly laughed at Sollux's expression, "she really didn't tell you?"

"No, _she really didn't tell me_! Fuck, that'th tho weird." Sollux pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.

Eridan laughed as he finished the rest of his food, "finish up, Sollux, I'm buyin' us a shit-tonne of alcohol tonight."

Sollux slammed his now-empty glass down on the table with a sly smile. "Fuck it, keep them coming, Eridan."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

As he night progressed, Eridan and Sollux got more and more intoxicated. They giggled over the stupidest things, and shoved eachother from across the table, trying to avoid hitting the plethora of empty glasses scattered across the table.

Sollux closed his eyes as he smiled, "you know what, thith ith the firtht thaturday night I've been outthide for in a long time." His lisp was even more pronounced now that he was drunk.

"You knoww wwhat, Sol, me too!" Eridan seemed to be completely incapable of controlling his stutter at this point.

"You want to know thomething funny? I wath actually going to athk you out for a drink yethterday, in the rethtaurant. But I got really embarrathed and couldn't finish becauthe the therver came over and interrupted me. Shhhh!" Sollux brought a finger up to his lips to accentuate the 'shh'.

Eridan flushed slightly, "you should'vve asked me, Sol, it's fun bein' wwith you like this."

"You, you called me Thol latht night, too. Why 'Thol'?" Sollux asked, propping his head up with one hand.

"Don't you like it, Sol? I thought you wwould'vve liked it. I think it sounds marvvelous, it rolls off the tongue. Sol, Sol, Sol." Eridan looked around in a daze, "maybe I only use it wwhen I like you." He snorted and began laughing again.

Sollux was quiet for a second, then he covered his face with one hand, "I actually do like it. I really do."

"Good. Hey, Sol, thanks for comin' out tonight." Eridan rested his chin on his arms that were folded on the table. "I had fun. I actually like hangin' out wwith you, wwhen you're not being an ass-fuck."

"I'm glad I came out, too. And you are thtill a shit-bag." Sollux smiled. "Thankth for being there for me latht night. Usually Karkat would've talked me through it, but he wath at work."

Eridan nodded, "it's alright, I understand. Any time you need to phone me, just phone."

The smile slipped from Sollux's face, "I appreciate that. Aradia uthed to lithten to me... But then she... Fuck." He covered his face with both of his hands, and felt Eridan gently touch his arm. Even in his drunken state, Sollux noticed that this wasn't the first time that Eridan had physically comforted him, and Sollux had been comfortable with the touch each time. "Thorry. I'm being thtupid. I jutht... She wath the betht fucking thing to happen to me, and I fucking drove her away."

Eridan swallowed a lump in his throat, "don't talk like that, it's not your fault."

"Yeth it ith! It'th all my fault! I mutht've done thomething wrong! I can't believe that she'd jutht go off like that, she wath thuppothed to love me, what did I do wrong!?" Sollux kept his face covered as he fought the tears. "I'm tho fucking pathetic, I actually went to the library to return a book for her, and I really wanted to tell her that I did it, tho that she would talk to me again!"

"Hey, don't wworry, wwe'vve all been there," Eridan continued gently rubbing Sollux's arm in an attempt to comfort him further.

"But you know what, Eridan, I haven't told her that I've returned it. Ath much ath I wanted her to know, and for her to love me again, I didn't. Want to know why?"

"Wwhy?" Eridan whispered.

Sollux removed his hands from his face, his eyes were wet, but he had succeeded in holding back the tears, "becauthe I wath too dithracted by you. You kept my mind off her, and I completely forgot to textht her."

Eridan smiled, "good! I'm glad!"

Sollux frowned, he had just noticed that there was a rather fat, middle-aged man watching him from the bar. Without warning, the fat guy got up, and began making his way over to the booth. When he finally reached them, his focus was completely on Sollux. His speech was incredibly slurred, "take those sunglasses off, you ain't ou'side. Wha' the fuck is wrong wiv you?"

Sollux felt the unfamiliar cocktail of fear and anger wash over him. His insides were on fire, but a chill ran through his veins. Sollux couldn't say anything, his body refused to comply with his brain.

"I said you look like a fuckin' idiot wiv those on. Take 'em off, you cunt." He huffed, visably exerted by the short walk over.

The shock of the sudden confrontation left Sollux speechless. Furious tears pricked his eyes, as the humiliation and hostility began to build. As Sollux continued to stare, Eridan cleared his throat loudly; this gained the large man's attention. "I don't think that's any business of yours." He stated calmly.

This comment appeared to infuriate the man. His face became a shade of pink, "I didn' fuckin' ask _you_, or wha'? You this guy's boyfriend or sommin'? He can't fight his own battles, so he brings you along wiv him?" He snarled.

Sollux was finally able to tear his eyes away from the monstrosity of a man, and turn his gaze to Eridan; who was sat with his hands clasped together on the table, looking quite composed.

"And what does _that_ have to do with anything? Whether he is my friend, boyfriend, or a complete stranger is beyond the point. The way you are speakin' to him is undeniably despicable, the language you're usin' is shameful at best." Eridan spoke slowly, enunciating each word carefully to avoid stuttering, "You do _**not**_ speak to him like that, do you understand? Now, leave us along an' stop botherin' us."

The man turned a dark shade of red, "who the fuck do you think you are!? I'm not gunna put up wiv some faggots talkin' to me like tha'!"

Eridan's demeanor changed suddenly, his eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared, "What did you just say?" He asked quietly.

The man appeared to believe that Eridan's loss of calm was some sort of victory, he sneered, "I said, _I'm not gunna put up wiv some __**faggots**__ talkin' to me like tha'._ Coz tha's wha' you both look like, a couple a faggots."

Eridan stood up, his cool facade had completely disappeared; he had become rigid, and didn't even attempt to mask his livid expression. Eridan was a couple of inches shorter than the man, and weighed about a quarter of the man's weight. "Apologise for usin' that word." Eridan was nearly whispering.

"Wha'? _Faggot_? Ain't you one?" The man laughed, obviously not very intimidated by Eridan's move, "is tha' why this dick won't take his fuckin' sunglasses off? For fashion?"

"I won't tell you again. Apologise." Eridan warned.

The drunken oaf's attention turned to Sollux, "you a faggot? Is tha' wha' you are?" He slurred, "gimme those fuckin' glasses." He reached out for Sollux's face.

"DON'T YOU FUCKIN' DARE TOUCH HIM!" Eridan lunged forwards and grabbed the fat man's shirt; who only had enough time to look at Eridan before Eridan threw his own head back and swung it forwards again, slamming his own forehead into the man's face.

Eridan felt the larger man's nose crumple under his forehead; he heard a satisfying 'crunch', and saw the fountain of crimson blood erupt from his face. The guy dropped to the floor like a sack of shit.

Eridan looked truly terrifying with the other man's blood dripping down his forehead, but the thing that scared Sollux was Eridan's eyes. They were full of hatred and had lost their gleam; they looked cold and harsh, and they held none of their familiar warmth. Sollux was shocked that Eridan had been able to take down the much larger man so easily.

The man was sprawled on the ground, clutching at his face, bellowing. Eridan knelt down next to him and grabbed a fistful of hair, his voice was scarily calm as he spoke, "you're not gunna use that word again. Are you?" He didn't bother waiting for an answer, he just slammed the guy's face into the floor and stood up.

"Oh shit, hey Eridan, let'th leave. Okay?" Sollux grabbed a handful of napkins off the table and stood up.

Eridan only nodded in response, allowing Sollux to lead him away from the table and out of the pub's doors. Sollux didn't stop pulling until they were about five minutes away from the pub, and just to be sure, he took them in a different route just in case they were being followed.

"Fuck, Eridan, what wath that!?" Sollux and Eridan slowed to a stop under a street light.

"I fuckin' hate that wword." Eridan replied. His stutter was exacerbated by the alcohol and nerves, his hands were also trembling.

"Yeah, but you broke hith nothe!"

"He deservved it. He spoke to you like shit, an' called us... _That_." Eridan looked at Sollux, the hatred had almost completely vanished from his eyes, but the blood remained. "He tried to grab you, Sol... I couldn't let him get awway wwith that."

Sollux shifted himself closer to Eridan, and lifted his chin with one hand. "Well thankth for thtanding up for me." He began wiping Eridan's face with the napkins, he was slightly rough because of the fact he was quite drunk. "Look at you, you're a meth. You got red on you." He muttered.

Eridan didn't reply, he was very aware of how close Sollux's face was. His breathing became shallow.

After a little while, Sollux stopped, "good enough." He said.

"Good enough? _Good enough_!? I am Eridan Ampora, I do not settle for _'good enough'!_"

Sollux rolled his eyes, "shut up, Eridan, I can't do shit with thethe crappy dry napkinth."

"I don't care! I am supposed to look perfect!" Eridan fumed, "you're not the one who's covvered in some bastard homophobe's blood, Sollux!"

"Shut up, Eridan." Sollux wanted nothing more than to shut the loud, dramatic hipster up.

"I beg your fuckin' pardon! But I think that I am allowwed to be a bit-" Eridan's words were stolen by Sollux's lips being breifly pressed against his.

When Sollux pulled away he looked satisfied, "finally I can hear mythelf think." He turned away and began walking in a shuffling manner. When Eridan didn't follow, he shouted, "you can thtay here if you want, maybe the man will come find you and take you back to hith!"

Eridan wiped his bottom lip with his thumb, he stumbled after Sollux, barely able to force his feet to go where he wanted them to.

They walked together, side-by-side, in the general direction of both their homes. Eridan stared at the sky as they walked, "hey Sollux, do you think- SOLLUX!" Eridan ran forwards, grabbed Sollux's arm and pulled him close.

Sollux had been walking at an angle, and had ended up in the road; when he had approached a parked car, Eridan was so drunk he thought that Sollux was about to get run over.

Eridan's heart was pounding in his chest, he clutched at Sollux, "don't you evver do that to me again!"

Sollux could feel Eridan shaking, he resisted the urge to hug him back, and instead broke the embrace. "I'm thorry, look, no harm done!"

"No, no, that is it, I havve decided to wwalk you home. I am nothin' if not chivvalrous, and I can't havve you gettin' yourself killed. So lead the wway, Sol." Eridan linked his arm with Sollux, and they walked together through the dark streets.

It was silent out, and both Eridan and Sollux felt guilty about ruining the perfect quiet whenever they spoke. It was quite cold, and Sollux was glad he'd brought his thick hoodie. He glanced down at Eridan, who had the lower half of his face covered with his scarf.

They didn't really speak again until Sollux's apartment building was in sight.

"I jutht... Aargh, my head ith thwimming right now. I can barely thee anything." Sollux muttered, the alchohol was giving him a headache.

"Then take your bloody sunglasses off, you knob-head. It's fuckin' dark out."

"No. The glatheth thtay on. Pluth my plathe ith right there."

Eridan pouted, his hopes crushed. "Take them off! You're blind wwearin' them! Wwhat's the big deal anywway?"

Sollux closed his eyes as they approached the steps to his apartment building. "Jutht leave it."

"No! I wwant you to take them off." Eridan stopped walking and put his hands on his hips, "it's about the principle of the matter noww."

"No, Eridan." Sollux was starting to get quite angry about the incessent demanding attitude Eridan had.

"But wwhy not?" Eridan whined, he wanted to see Sollux's eyes so badly he was considering snatching the glasses right off Sollux's face.

Sollux finally felt something inside of him snap. "Becauthe I hate my fucking eyeth!" He snarled. As soon as the words left his mouth, he regretted them. He wished he could take them back. He didn't want Eridan knowing how much he hated himself.

"Wwhat? Wwhy?" The look of pity on Eridan's face made Sollux feel sick.

"Fuck, Eridan. I really jutht," Sollux made an exasperated noise, "look, I jutht don't like my eyeth, okay? People either make a huge deal out of them, or make fun of them. I jutht want normal eyeth, I mean, who _would_ want thethe eyeth?" Sollux ran both of his hands through his hair and stared at his feet.

"Howw _dare_ you, they're fin-_fan_tastic. I wwish I had your eyes." Eridan pouted angrilly, "you should throww the glasses in the bin an let me see them." He moved in front of Sollux, and wobbled on his unstable legs.

Sollux looked up and dropped his hands to his side, "shut up, Eridan."

Eridan frowned, "no really, I'vve alwways been jealous of them. I really wwanna see your eyes again. It's been years since I last saww them." He said softly.

"Shut up." Sollux refused to look up, he doubted the sincerity of Eridan's words.

"No I wwon't shut up."

Sollux froze as Eridan leant forwards and brought his hands up to his face, he closed his eyes as Eridan pulled his sunglasses off.

"Look at me." Eridan said, holding the sunglasses to his chest, "Sol? Please?"

Sollux rolled his eyes as he opened them, he looked at Eridan with furrowed eyebrows. "There, thatithfied? Yeah, get a good fucking look at the freak eyeth. Ooh call your friendth over, they might want to have a look too!" He spat bitterly.

Eridan continued to stare, ignoring Sollux's words and focusing on the eyes that were currently watching him suspiciously.

"What the fuck are you thtaring at, you inthufferable ath?"

"I'vve been wwaiting to see them for a long time, Sol." Eridan was hardly blinking, "you knoww wwhat, I don't wwant you to throww your glasses awway anymore. Part of me wwants to be the only one that gets to see them."

Sollux blushed, "I'm not your perthonal freak show, Eridan." His words held no venom. Even Aradia hadn't been this nice about his eyes.

"You're not a freak showw."

Sollux struggled to hold Eridan's gaze. _'Don't be so fucking kind about my eyes. They're hideous. They're disgusting. They're shameful. They're-'_

"They're fuckin' perfect."

They were almost nose-to-nose; Sollux flushed, his mouth suddenly felt very dry. "Eridan." He whispered. His mind screamed at him to do a thousand things;_ push the bastard over and run, grab him, kick him in the nuts, thank him, scream in his face, hug him, punt him in the shins, grab him and..._

"Fuck it." Sollux said.

Eridan jumped as he was suddenly grabbed and pulled close by Sollux, their lips were clumsily crushed together in an unprepared kiss. Eridan's eyes went wide with shock, he pushed Sollux away and bit his own lip.

They stood together; Sollux's arms were still around Eridan, and Eridan's hands were on Sollux's chest.

"I'm thorry..." Sollux stammered, "I wath... You were jutht tho clothe to my fathe, and I..." He could barely hear himself over the sound of blood pounding in his ears.

Eridan licked his bottom lip nervously, "it's not that, trust me. I just need to knoww if this is because a the alcohol or not."

"Do you even _care_?"

"Good point."

They grabbed eachother with a fervoured passion, their lips locked together as teeth nipped and tongues explored. Sollux ran his hands through Eridan's hair, his fingers catching on the stiffened hair products.

Eridan gripped Sollux closely in a tight embrace, pulling their bodies together.

Completely driven by lust, Sollux's mind begged him to mark Eridan. His hands trailed Eridan's neck, he stroked the scarf for a second before balling a fistfull of it in one hand; he then used it to maneuver Eridan's head to one side, never once breaking the kiss. After continuing for an unknown amount of time, Sollux stopped the kiss, then pulled the scarf down to expose Eridan's neck; he ducked his head down and licked the smooth skin. Sollux was vaguely aware of Eridan saying something, but the words were lost and unintelligable.

Sollux began kissing Eridan's neck. Following blind, lust-fuelled instinct, he began to suck as hard as he could, biting a little as he did. Eridan dragged his nails down Sollux's back, which drove Sollux into biting harder.

Sollux flinched as he felt nails digging into him, and when they became too painful to ignore, he pulled away. Eridan quickly covered the bruise with his scarf, and stared up at Sollux with a red face. "Wwhat wwas that about!? It hurt like a bitch!"

Sollux noticed that they were still holding onto each other in an alcohol fuelled daze. "Thorry. I couldn't help it." Each word took so much effort to say. He was gaining a sick pleasure from dominating the other man. Sollux's eyes wandered down to Eridan's lips; he saw them move, but barely registered hearing what he said. He thought he heard, "Sol, I fuckin' lovve your eyes..." Before he claimed the lips with his own.

This time the kiss was slower, they blindly explored eachother's bodies with fumbling hands. The alcohol removed their inhibitions, but made them clumsy and needy.

Sollux's head was filled with voices screaming for him to invite Eridan in; to mark him further, to make him scream his name. Sollux's hand trembled as he pushed Eridan's shoulders and seperated them completely, "Eridan, do you want to..." He didn't know quite how to word it.

They both jumped as the darkness they had been stood in was suddenly flooded with yellow light. Sollux looked up the steps to the front door.

"WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON HERE!?"


	23. Responsible Karkat

Feels so good to have finally gotten that last chapter out! c:

Thank you for the continued support! I absolutely adore reading the reviews you all write :D

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Karkat stood above them with a look of disgust plastered across his face. His hands were planted firmly on his hips. "I'm fucking waiting for an explanation as to what you two think you're doing!" He shouted.

Sollux and Eridan stood frozen in place, their arms still wrapped around eachother. They both stared up at Karkat; who was still wearing his extremely fluffy, grey dressing-gown, a matching pair of fluffy grey slippers, and black pyjama trousers.

"KK, what are you doing here!?" Sollux asked in a hushed, but angry voice.

Karkat threw his arms up in the air, "one, I asked you first, you fucking moron! And two, because it's blatantly slipped from your memory; I live here!"

Sollux pulled a face, "no KK, what are you doing _here_, like, right at thith moment?" He motioned his head towards Eridan, who was so stunned by the sudden appearance of Karkat that he was completely silent.

"Really, Sollux? You're fucking joking right?" Karkat crossed his arms, "I have been up for hours, keeping an eye out for your stupid ass to crawl home! Then I see two drunk dip-shits outside my door and lo and behold, it's the two of you trying to swallow eachother's tongues!"

Eridan pulled a mortified face, "oh my god." He whispered, wishing the ground would swallow him up.

"You." Karkat pointed a finger at Sollux, "get your blithering ass inside right at this moment. And _you_," the finger was now directed at Eridan, "give me a minute to grab my fucking coat and I'll walk you home, because you blatantly don't have the mental capacity to get there yourself without either jumping on some poor bastard's cock or more likely, getting yourself killed. Although your death _would_ be a fucking virtuous gift to bestow on the world." With that, he spun on his heels and stormed inside to retrieve something more sensible to wear.

Eridan and Sollux began nervously giggling the second the door closed behind Karkat; they continued to lean against eachother for the support their own legs wouldn't give them.

"That wath like getting told off by a parent!" Sollux snorted loudly.

"Papa Kar!" Eridan screamed through his laughter. This sent them both even further into hysterics, their mirth ringing out into the silence of the night.

Their laughter died away suddenly as they both became conscious of how they were still hanging onto eachother. Eridan gazed up at Sollux with a wistful expression.

"Thtop looking at me like that," Sollux said, "have I got shit on my fathe, or thomething?"

Eridan leant a little closer, "no. But if Kar's takin' me home noww, then that means you're not gunna be drunk wwhen I see you next. And then you'll hide your eyes awway again, and I wwon't be able to see them for fuck-knowws howw long," he pouted, "so I'm makin' the most of it wwhile I can. I've gotta make this image a you last."

Sollux felt a warmth blossom in his chest, it spread through his entire body and made him hold onto Eridan a little tighter. He had no idea what to say, or even how to react. He'd never felt this kind of pride-like happiness before, and it wasn't an unwelcome feeling.

"I wwish I didn't havve to go, Sol. This really wwas a lot a fun." Eridan wavered on the spot, and smiled sadly, "I don't wwant us to not hang out again. Wwe havve to do this again soon, okay?"

Sollux couldn't bring himself to fake a smile, he hated the thought of Eridan having to leave. He was vaguely aware of how soft the fabric of Eridan's clothes felt, "let me know when you get home. Thend me a textht tho that I don't have to worry."

"Are you actually _concerned_ about my wwell bein', Sol?" Eridan puffed out his chest dramatically, "you saww howw I took dowwn that big fucker, I can take on anythin'."

There were still traces of dried blood on Eridan's forehead, and Sollux felt another sudden rush of both guilt and gratitude, "I know you can," he said, "thankth for today ED. You fucking thaved my ath, and I really appreciate it."

"Oh, so I'm ED noww?" Eridan grinned, "but you don't need to thank me again. I'd do it a hundred fuckin' times, so forget about it, it's just howw someone as chivvalrous an amazin' as me _should_ act."

When Sollux cupped Eridan's face with his hand, the whole world seemed to disappear for the both of them. Their lips met softly, and this time, there was no heated passion, or even a battle for dominance. There was only affection.

Of course, it could only last the briefest of moments before Eridan was wrenched away by a very grumpy looking Karkat, "jeez I leave you two for five fucking minutes while I put my shoes and coat on, and you're at it like fucking rabbits! Have some fucking decency for fucks sake!" he dragged Eridan away by pulling at his arm, "come on, let's get you home, Eridan. And Sollux, get in the house! I'll deal with you when I get back!"

Eridan waved at Sollux with his free hand, and walked backwards as he watched Sollux retreat into the apartment building. After he was out of sight, Eridan turned around to walk properly, and Karkat let go of him.

"Eridan, I need to ask you something." Karkat said, staring straight ahead. Not bothering to wait for Eridan to respond, he continued, "what are you doing with Sollux?"

"Wwell wwe had some drinks and just had some fun." Eridan smiled, once again running a thumb along his own bottom lip.

Karkat's voice remained low, "that's just it, Eridan. I want to know if you're playing around with Sollux just for_ 'fun'_." He stuffed his hands in his own pockets, "what I'm asking is are you fucking around with Sollux for shits and giggles, or do you seriously like him."

"I'vve alwways liked him, Kar. Wwell in highschool at least... Evven wwhen I hated him, I liked him." Eridan looked at Karkat and made a loud, 'shh!' noise dramatically.

Karkat finally looked up at Eridan, "what? You mean you... Is that fucking blood on your face?!" He exclaimed.

Eridan pouted a little, "I _kneww_ Sollux didn't get it all off! I bet I look like a mess!" He whined.

Karkat stopped walking and pulled an agitated face, "why the fuck do you have blood on you, you thick, ignorant, dick-headed, wanker?" He screamed, "what the fuck did you and Sollux _do_ tonight!?"

"Someone wwas actin' like a complete bastard to Sollux, an made fun a him. So I nutted them." Eridan grinned widely, "I think I broke their nose."

"Oh that's a huge fucking weight off my mind, it's good to know that you're willing to fucking attack someone at the drop of a hat!" Karkat snapped sarcastically.

Eridan continued walking, leading the way to his home, "Sollux wwas obvviously shaken up by wwhat the bloke wwas sayin', you shoulda seen him. The guy tried to grab Sollux," Eridan's expression darkened, "I wwasn't gunna stand for it."

After continuing to walk for a little while in silence, Karkat asked another question, "so did that whole dick-fest you two instigated outside my house happen just because you're drunk?"

"Probably. Wwe're both pretty fuckin' drunk!" Eridan laughed, unable to comprehend the implications of the question.

Karkat frowned at Eridan's answer; he now believed that Eridan had tried to take advantage of the fact that Sollux had been drunk to get what he wanted.

As they approached Eridan's house, Karkat watched Eridan pull a phone out of his tight, white trouser pockets. "What are you doing?" He asked as they ascended the front steps.

"I promised Sollux I'd let him knoww wwhen I got home. An that's wwhat I'm doin'." Eridan struggled to type the message with his vision so impaired. "I don't wwant him to wworry."

Karkat frowned, "Eridan listen, Sollux has been trying to get over the biggest shit-storm of his life, okay. So don't fuck him around for your own selfish reasons, he doesn't need another... _Her_ in his life. So don't fucking drag him along. If he doesn't want it, you have to back off away from him." He turned and began walking away, "I'll see you later." He muttered.

Before Eridan could even register what Karkat had just said, the short man began running back in the direction they had just walked from. Eridan looked down at his phone and noticed he still was holding a pair of dark sunglasses in one hand.

-.-.-

Karkat burst through his own front door dripping with sweat and panting as if he'd run a marathon; he marched though the kitchen and into the living room where Sollux was sitting, and stripped off the coat he was wearing, "I have just sprinted the entire way home to hear your side of this monumental dick-scraping experience that I was unfortunate enough to have to witness." He panted heavily, "would you care to fucking explain just what in the name of all that is wrong in the world that was about!?"

Sollux looked up with bleary, barely focused eyes, "what?"

Karkat threw his arms into the air, "what do you mean 'what'!? Enlighten me as to what the fuck you and that hipster were doing outside our home! I thought you weren't even friends!"

"Didn't your parentth ever give you 'the talk', KK?" Sollux sniggered. "And here I wath thinking that you wath a big boy."

"Oh your comedic stylings are so fresh and hilarious," Karkat muttered bitterly, "all I want to know is why you spent however-long sucking on Ampora's face. I've already heard Eridan's side of it, and now I want to hear what you have to say for yourself."

There was a thick, heavy silence. Sollux's brain was clouded and muggy, and he couldn't seem to form a coherent insult to throw at the shorter man. "Why ith it any of your fucking buthineth who I kith." Sollux finally spat out.

This seemed to push one of Karkat's buttons, his face and ears flushed a furious red that was bordering on becoming purple, "BECAUSE YOU LITTLE SHIT SMEAR, I DONT WANT TO SEE YOU GET HURT BY SOMEONE AGAIN! BECAUSE WE'RE FUCKING FRIENDS AND THAT'S WHAT FRIENDS DO! I'M TRYING TO LOOK OUT FOR YOU, YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE TURD!" Karkat's voice exploded into the room, "WHY CAN'T YOU GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK, FUCKING HEAD? I WAS THE ONE WHO HELD YOU THAT NIGHT WHEN YOU GOT FUCKED OVER LAST, REMEMBER? IT WAS **ME**! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU GET LIKE THAT EVER AGAIN! I AM TRYING TO FUCKING PROTECT YOU!"

Sollux shrank away from the voice, the alcohol made Karkat seem much more intimidating, and the words hit him hard. The familiar feeling of his insides twisting into knots began, and Sollux gripped his hands together.

Karkat clenched his hands into fists as he spoke, "you're old enough and stupid enough to make your own mistakes, Sollux. But don't insult me by telling me it's none of my business. Not after everything I have done for you. Don't you fucking _dare_ try and pull that 'big-boy Sollux' bullshit on me again." His shoulders sagged a little as some of the anger melted away, "I'm always going to be here for you when you need that safety net, but I'd rather you didn't get up on that emotion shit-wire in the first place. Don't set yourself up for a fall, Sollux."

A lighter silence fell between them. Sollux sniffed, covered his hands with the sleeves of his hoodie, then covered his eyes, "KK, I've thpent my entire life hating mythelf, and after everything that'th happened to me, I think I fucking detherve _one_ night where thomeone tellth me they actually _like_ the thingth about me that I hate tho much!"

Karkat's still angry features softened slightly, "look, Sollux, I just don't want you making a massive fucking mistake that you're going to regret later. You were both drunk, do you really think that's -"

"He thaid he loved my eyeth." Sollux interrupted, looking up from his trembling hands. His eyes were glistening, "do you know what it feelth like to look at yourthelf in the mirror every day and fucking hate everything that'th looking back at you? To give anything to change yourthelf but know that you're thtuck like it forever?"

Karkat opened his mouth to respond, but Sollux cut him off before he could start. The look of pity on Karkat's face spoke for him.

"Then thomeone cometh along and thayth that they _love_ your flawth, that they're _jealouth_ of them, and they aren't lying!" Sollux's voice cracked a little as he spoke, "I, I needed to hear that from thomeone, and that perthon jutht happened to be Eridan, okay. I don't need you judging me for fucking being human!" Sollux wiped his eyes and nose with his sleeve, hating how exacerbated his emotions were when he was drunk.

He flinched inwardly as he felt Karkat drop down next to him on the sofa, and pull him into an awkward hug. Karkat's voice was quiet when he spoke, "sorry. I'm not judging you _or_ your choices, Sollux. I'm just trying my best to stop you from getting hurt, I don't want to see you getting screwed over again."

"I know." Sollux mumbled.

Karkat released Sollux from his grasp, "go to bed, you've got work in the morning." He muttered.

Sollux nodded in reply, but didn't say anything as he walked up the stairs and to his room. He kicked his bedroom door closed, and dropped onto the bed fully clothed. The world spun around him and made his stomach tighten.

"Fuck." Sollux muttered, closing his eyes.


	24. Hangovers

Apologies once again for the late updates, I have had a shit-tonne of stuff going on, and I haven't slept properly in weeks...

So yes, to make it up to everyone who continues to read this (I appreciate you all so fucking much) I'm going to do an extra long chapter!

Thank you all so much for reading, reviewing, favouriting and returning! It means more to me than words can ever express.

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Images of Sollux filled Eridan's dreams once again. Their lips met passionately, and they held onto one another.

"Eridan..." Sollux said quietly, his voice echoed strangely, "Eridan..." He raised a hand to his sunglasses; his long, thin fingers played on the frames.

Eridan's chest tightened in anticipation, he felt a blush creep over his cheeks. "Sol..." He whispered.

When Sollux pulled the glasses from his own face, his eyes were closed. A teasing smile played on his lips, "Eridan..." He murmured, his voice still sounding so strange in Eridan's mind.

"Open them." Eridan demanded weakly, his lips barely able to form the words, "let me see."

"ERIDAN!"

Eridan's eyes snapped open, and as he blinked away the mugginess of the dream, he saw a giggling mess of a girl stood in front of him.

"Fef!? Wwhat the fuck!?" He screamed, throwing one of his many plump pillows at her.

"Eridan, I can't breathe! I've been calling your name for ages trying to wake you up!" She gasped, doubling over clutching her stomach, "does dear Sollux know that you dream about him? And such a dirty mind too! 'Open them, I want to see'!?"

"Oh get your mind outta the gutter, Fef! I wwas talkin' about his fuckin' eyes!" Eridan insisted; folding his arms and pouting a little. As Feferi continued to struggle with her laughter, Eridan surveyed his room. His bedsheets and quilt lay in a pile on the floor, as did the majority of his pillows; asides from that, it seemed quite orderly.

"Uhh, Eridan, what the shell is that on your face?" Feferi's giggles had been silenced very suddenly, "is that blood?"

Eridan's eyes widened as he leapt from his bed and ran to his large bedroom mirror. "WHAT." He shouted as he saw the flaking, brownish-red blood on his forehead and the bridge of his nose. Eridan's mouth hung open as he saw that not only was he still wearing his outfit from the night before, but it was completely ruined with tiny blood stains.

His once-pristine white trousers were never going to be clean again; there was a whole three blood drops on them! Eridan was already mourning their loss.

"Eridan, did you kill Sollux last night?" Feferi joked, "I knew you two being fronds was too good to be true." She shook her head , smiling.

"No, that's not it." Eridan muttered; memories of headbutting a full-grown man played out in his mind. "I'll have you know I actually protected Sollux last night. I can't believe I forgot that, I fuckin' headbutted someone for him."

Feferi's face brightened, "whale look at you! You actually used your angry and violent disposition for good!" She giggled, "colour me impressed!"

Eridan pulled a face at Feferi in the mirror, which she returned gleefully, "Fef, I am in dire need of a shower, so excuse me while I take my leave." He huffed as he walked over to the bathroom with his nose in the air.

"Leave the door open a smidge so we can talk about your night, okay?" Feferi requested as she began picking up all of the fallen bed items.

Eridan nodded, he walked into his glorious bathroom and made sure to leave the door open just a little. He turned his shower on before stripping off his filthy clothes, waiting for the water to heat up.

Feferi's voice was still quite clear as she spoke loudly from the bedroom, "so come on, water you waiting for? Spill the gossip, what happened last night?"

Eridan stepped into the shower, relaxing under the warm water, "well we went to the pub, got very drunk, I nutted a dick head, an then," he hesitated as he tried to recollect the events, "I'm pretty sure I walked him home before I came back here." He moved his head under the stream of water, allowing it to pour over his face as he started washing his hair. He was eager to finally feel clean again.

"Oh, you gentleman. So what did the guy do to deserve you headbutting him?" Feferi asked.

Eridan began washing his hair with his favourite coconut shampoo, "he called me an Sollux 'faggots' an then he tried to grab Sollux's glasses off him." He began rinsing.

"Wow, what a dick! Yeah he dolphinately deserved it. So did anything _else_ happen?" Feferi's voice was high and insinuating.

"No, I don't think so, everything's just too damn muggy. I'm pretty fuckin' hungover, Fef."

They didn't speak for the rest of Eridan's shower, and he was able to finish his cleaning routine in peace. He turned off the taps, and stepped onto the bath mat, grabbing a thick, mauve towel from the towel rack. Eridan sighed as he began drying himself, "Fef, can you grab me a clean shirt and a pair of boxers, please?" He heard Feferi get off the bed and begin rummaging through his drawers.

She was taking ages, "yeah, any shirt will do Fef, it doesn't need to match my fuckin' towel or anythin'." He complained as his teeth chattered. Eridan slapped a hand to his forehead as the sudden realisation hit him, "you're lookin' for that fuckin' Sea World one aren't you?" He moaned.

"Yes indeedy!" Feferi's arm shot through the door, holding an atrociously large shirt and a pair of black boxer shorts. "Sorry I took so long finding it, but _someone_ hid it at the very back of his shirt drawer!"

Eridan groaned dramatically, "Fef, it's eight sizes too big! Why do you insist on forcin' me to wear it at any given opportunity?" He snatched the clothes out of her hand.

"Eridan Ampora, I bought you that shirt when we went to Sea World together. It was a lovely gesture on my part, and now it serves as a reminder of my love for you." Feferi tried and failed to sound serious, "besides, doesn't it bring back such fun memories?"

The trip to Sea World had been perfect. Eridan and Feferi had gone together while their parents were away on their honeymoon, and it was something they both needed. Feferi hadn't been around Eridan much, because she and Sollux had been dating and it proved to be too awkward, especially since Eridan and Sollux had daily fist fights. This changed when Feferi and Sollux had broken up; Eridan had stepped up as her best friend and step-brother, and comforted her with everything he could.

Sea World had proven to be the perfect distraction; they both loved marine animals, and they had made up for lost time, chatting non-stop the whole weekend. Which is why Eridan was so pissed off that the memory was tarnished thanks to the godawful, tent-sized shirt. Feferi on the other hand, thought it was hilarious.

As Eridan stomped into the bedroom drying his hair with his towel, Feferi burst into hysterics; the shirt reached his knees and made him look like a five year old. He frowned at her when he stopped drying his hair and dropped the towel onto the floor, "yeah, yeah, laugh it up." He pouted.

Feferi's laughter died abruptly once again, "Eridan, what's _that_!?" She asked with her mouth agape.

Fearing the worst, Eridan leapt in front of the mirror and began searching his face for something like an extra nipple, "what? what's _what_, Fef!?" He hissed.

Her voice was smooth as silk when she spoke again, "on your neck, Eridan. What is _that_?"

Eridan frowned, his gaze dropped to his reflection's neck, where he saw a very dark purple bruise standing out against his otherwise flawless skin.

"Is that a _hickey_, my dear Eridan?" Feferi asked smugly.

He couldn't answer, Eridan's mind was suddenly thrown into chaos. The kisses he had thought were only a figment of his dreams had actually happened.

Eridan and Sollux had kissed. They had been completely drunk, but they had kissed; Sollux had even gone so far as to give Eridan the love-bite.

"You're _blushing_!" Feferi squealed.

Eridan nodded; he could remember how every kiss had felt, and was replaying the whole scene in his head again. He ran a thumb along his lips as he continued to try and process everything. Sollux had held him, kissed him, and had... Eridan couldn't suppress the grin; Sollux had shown him his eyes. A blush crept over his cheeks as he remembered.

A whole spectrum of expressions flashed through Eridan's head; the way that Sollux looked a little sad when they spoke of leaving, the way that he would hide his awkward and slightly crooked smiles with his hand, the way he clenched his eyes shut when he laughed uncontrollably... The way his eyes would become slightly lidded when he blushed after a kiss.

"Whoa, slow down there mister! Are you going to share with the rest of the class?" Feferi's smile was wide and cheesy, and her eyes glittered with anticipation. She was sat on the bed with a pillow squeezed tightly in her arms, "I thought you said it wasn't a date!"

"It wwasn't." Eridan mumbled, "I don't knoww howw it got to it, but wwe kissed." His eyes flicked to Feferi, "wwe fuckin' kissed, an Sollux gavve me a fuckin' hickey."

Feferi giggled and fell back against the pillows behind her, "Eridan! You're so _naughty_! Oh, you should call Sollux and invite him round!" She gasped, "maybe this could be the start of something! Maybe you could both leave more hickeys, in better places?" She wiggled her eyebrows at Eridan suggestively.

Eridan blushed even harder, his ears turned bright red, "F-Fef! I wwill not havve this discussion wwith you! Wwe wwere drunk! It's not like that!" He fiddled with his oversized shirt nervously, and added quietly, "but I guess I'll havve to see him again, because I havve his sunglasses."

"Yes! There we go! Text him now, but act cool about it!" Feferi bounced a little on the bed in excitement.

Eridan grabbed his phone, "but I swwear Fef, if it's super awwkwward an he tells me that it only happened because wwe wwere both so drunk an he doesn't actually like me in any wway an makes me look like an idiot," his words rushed out of his mouth in a garbled, unpausing mess, "I'm gunna blame you because you're the one wwho's pushin' me to do this." He quickly began typing a text with shaking hands, after pressing 'send' he looked over at Feferi, "wwhat should I wwear?"

-.-.-.-.-

Sollux Captor could not handle alcohol. He was the lightest of lightweights, and last night he had tried to keep up with Eridan.

Another bout of mustard-yellow vomit forced itself out of Sollux's mouth. He shook violently as he flushed the toilet for the seventh time that morning. Sollux had gone to bed feeling nothing but confident about not being sick, so it came as quite the surprise when he woke up at about 7am feeling as if he was going to explode. He had barely made it into the bathroom before he began throwing up, cursing loud enough to wake Karkat up.

"Kill me, KK. Jutht fucking thmash my head againtht the toilet until I'm dead." He complained weakly.

Karkat stood in the doorway holding a phone at arms length above Sollux, he returned the phone to his own ear, "as you can hear, Sollux is too unwell to come in today... Yes... Alright cheers-"

"Are you letting my fucking work lithen to me being thick!?" Sollux shouted into the toilet bowl, "I'll kill you KK!"

Karkat stuck his middle finger up and continued his conversation with Sollux's boss, "yeah I know, mhm. Alright then, he'll get in contact with you as soon as he gets over this bug... Okay, you too, Bye." Karkat hung up the phone, and frowned at Sollux, "your boss said to stop being such a little pussy."

Sollux wretched and coughed, but thankfully nothing came out, "you're an ath and I hate you."

Karkat leant against the doorframe and crossed his arms, "hey, you're lucky to have such a good friend, I could've very easily dobbed you in and told them you're actually nursing a fucking hangover, but I didn't. I lied for you, and you're welcome."

Sollux groaned loudly and took a sip of the water Karkat had brought him, "I feel like complete shit."

"You look like it too. You shouldn't have been so fucking cocky. You know your limits, come on!"

"I'm too methed up to even think of a retort, but retht assured if I could think of one, it would've been thcaving and full of burnth for you." Sollux returned his attention to the toilet as his body tensed again.

Karkat rolled his eyes and stretched out his leg, awkwardly rubbing Sollux's back with his foot, "there you go, even though you're dying to insult me, here I am offering you nothing but kindness. Look how I'm comforting you like a best friend should."

Sollux's body heaved as he gagged, but his stomach was completely empty, so he just sat there shivering.

"You're a fucking idiot, Sollux." Karkat muttered; Sollux looked up at him sadly, a small yellow splatter on his cheek. Karkat rolled his eyes and walked over to the sink, he grabbed a washcloth and held it under the warm water. After wringing most of the water out, he knelt next to Sollux, "come here you little shit." He said gently, bringing the damp flannel up to Sollux's face, "you still need a shower, though. You fucking stink."

"I know," Sollux accepted the cleaning gratefully, and he patted Karkat's arm, "thankth."

"Oh shut up." Karkat snapped. When he thought that his friend looked clean enough, he held Sollux's nose, "blow."

Sollux complied, and nearly popped an eardrum in the process. When Karkat pulled the washcloth away, it was covered in yellow stains, "well that would exthplain why I could thmell vomit tho much." Sollux marveled in disgust.

"And it also explains why I find you so fucking revolting." Karkat grimaced, throwing the washcloth into the bathroom bin. "Well, today has already been jam-packed with fucking revelations, hasn't it?" He looked at Sollux, concern etched into his face, "you look alright now, though. Do you think you can go back to bed?"

"I'll try." Sollux stood up on wobbly legs, and began the short trip back to his room. He very slowly sat down on his beanbag, and plucked a shirt off the floor, wrapping it around himself like a very tiny blanket. He looked at the clock and saw that it was just before 9AM, but his world turned black as exhaustion took him.

-.-.-

When Sollux's phone went off, it was just before 1:30PM. He rubbed his eyes and looked down at the thin blanket that was draped over him; Sollux smiled as he realised that Karkat must have gotten it for him.

Sollux's muscles screamed as he stood up; he limped over to his bedside table to retrieve his phone and sunglasses, and he sighed angrily when he could only find his phone. Today was definitely not off to the best start. Sollux rummaged through his drawers and pulled out his thick and bulky, high school sunglasses.

After shoving the ugly glasses onto his face, he started to make his way downstairs. When Sollux passed through the living room, he didn't bother greeting Gamzee. He was sat on the couch, surrounded by a cloud of sweet and musky-smelling smoke; his face was painted, and he looked very mellow. Sollux was thankful that Gamzee didn't seem to recognise his presence; he was too hungover to have the patience to attempt to work out Gamzee's cryptic speech.

Karkat looked up from his magazine as Sollux entered the kitchen, "good morning sunshine, you're looking a bit better. Or at least, you don't look as shit as you did."

Sollux dropped onto a chair and pressed his head against the table, "I thtill feel like shit."

"Well you're not getting any sympathy off me, you've already gotten a years worth this morning." Karkat stated bluntly, watching Sollux pout, "oh for fucks sake. Fine, do you want me to get you anything?" He offered reluctantly.

"Honey loopth."

"Alright. But I'm only doing this for you because you look and sound so pathetic. Don't get used to it." Karkat stood up and began pottering around the cupboards.

Sollux lifted his head as a bowl and spoon were thrust in front of him, "thank you." He said with a small smile.

"Whatever. Here's your fucking honey loops. Took me forever to find them when I went shopping last, seeing as they changed the box." Karkat slammed the box of cereal and a carton of milk on the table, then sat back in his chair to continue reading his trashy magazine.

Sollux stared into the dead little eyes of the overly-cute cartoon bee that was now adorning his favourite box of cereal. "I hate thith new boxth, and I hate thith thtupid bee." He muttered, "thith bee can thuck my ath."

Karkat didn't look up, "you just hate change. You'll get used to it, you're a big boy."

"No I won't. I hate the fucker." Sollux considered jamming his spoon into the bee's face, but decided against it because he didn't want to risk damaging his beloved cereal. He opened the box and the bag, then smiled at the familiar contents. Sollux poured himself a small amount, worrying about upsetting his stomach, then he added a little milk. He sighed contently as he lifted the first spoonful to his lips, but his face dropped as he ate it.

"KK. They changed the fucking tathte." Sollux said numbly, his eyes searched the box; sure enough, there was a little piece of text next to that traitorous bee that read, 'new and improved recipe!'

Sollux stared at the bowl. His wonderful and perfect cereal was ruined, probably by some sort of cereal hating, corporate bastard that didn't want children to be happy, and to have a delicious honey-loop start to their day. He stood up and poured his uneaten bowl of cereal into the bin, and dropped the bowl and spoon into the sink.

Today really was a shit day.

He remembered that his phone had alerted him to a text, and he checked it; knowing that there wasn't much else that could make him feel worse today.

**'hey sollux hope your feelin alright today if you wwant to come ovver i havve your sunglasses for some reason'**

A tiny part of Sollux felt a little disappointed that Eridan hadn't called him 'Sol', as he had really gotten used to it after last night. He leant back a little against the kitchen worktops and thought about Eridan, wondering how the hipster felt about their little drunken escapade.

"You're smiling." Karkat's voice made Sollux jump.

"Tho? Aren't I allowed to thmile?" Sollux bristled defensively.

Karkat rolled his eyes and put his magazine down. "So what did Eridan text you about?"

Sollux spluttered for a moment in an attempt to buy himself some time to think of something witty to shout at Karkat, but failed miserably. "He'th got my glatheth, tho he athked if I wanted to pick them up." He admitted.

Karkat leant forwards a little, his eyes never leaving Sollux, "tell you what Sollux, why don't we talk about that lovely elephant who's been dying to get a little attention?" He sounded tired, "don't you think it's a bad idea to run over to his house after last night?"

"KK, I'm an adult, I can take care of mythelf." Sollux paused before adding, "I don't regret what happened latht night." He smiled again, feeling his chest tighten a little.

"Fuck, I hate being so right all the time." Karkat propped his head up with a hand, "I told you this would happen if you kept hanging around him. It's like you caught something off him."

"Don't give me that. You know that I really did hate him at the beginning of the week, but it wath more like a rivalry i gueth." Sollux scratched the back of his own neck, "but he'th not the thame ath he wath in highthchool, KK. He'th thtill a dramatic idiot who won't thtop talking, but he'th a better perthon now."

Karkat didn't say anything, he only raised his eyebrows.

"I mean, he thtayed up and lithened to me having a panic, and he didn't even rub it in my fathe or call me weak or anything. I don't know, I jutht think that he'th alright now." Sollux looked away. "That being thaid, and even though I had fun latht night I would've probably been pithed off if we had gone any further, tho yeah, thankth for thtopping me."

"While your shitty show of gratitude would usually be enough to satisfy my altruistic nature, I have to insist on an action on your part, to truly show how fucking thankful you are." Karkat's eyes seemed to glint menacingly as he brought his fingers together in a peak. "That's right Sollux. You know what I want."

Sollux groaned loudly in reply, "oh come on, you can't be theriouth, you really want me to-"

"That's right, Sollux." Karkat interrupted, "I want you to come to the cinema with me and watch My Love Returns."

Sollux made an exasperated noise, and looked at the ceiling. Then continued making the noise as he approached the table, and banged his head against it. He only stopped after he turned his head to the side and looked up at Karkat with pleading eyes, "I thought we were friendth."

"We are friends. We are the closest of close, best friends. We could be like a pair of kids from a 90s movie that high-five and hang out in tree houses, and laugh all the time because they're such bloody good chums." Karkat grinned, "and that's why you're so happy to do this for me."

Sollux narrowed his eyes and stood up, "fine. But jutht tho you know, I would never high-five you, becauthe you are a prick. In fact, I'd burn down the fucking tree houthe while you were in it."

Karkat shook his head and grinned, "such a charming young man, as usual." He wrinkled his nose a little, "word to the wise though, Sollux. You might want to shower now, as unbelievable as it sounds, you actually smell worse than you look."

Sollux decided that having a shower sounded like the best course of action. He pulled one last childish face at Karkat, and walked out of the kitchen backwards, shoving the index and middle finger on both hands in the air and waving them tauntingly. Karkat calmly raised both of his middle fingers, and pulled a horrific face too.

The living room was now thick with smoke, and Gamzee was lying on the floor stroking the carpet happily. Sollux stepped over him and ran upstairs before the stoner could even notice him.

After locking the bathroom door, Sollux decided to text Eridan back. He reread Eridan's text, and noticed that he had used the typing quirk that Feferi had told him about in high school. He grinned, and decided to use his, hoping just a little bit to confuse Eridan with it.

**'thank2 ii wa2 lookiing for tho2e, ju2t giive me 2ome tiime two have a 2hower fiir2t. 2ee you later'**

He grinned and put the phone on top of the radiator. Then he quickly stripped and jumped into the bathtub, turning the taps as he did. Cool water sprayed him in the face as the shower fixture came on, the water took a few seconds to warm up. Sollux began scrubbing his body with his generic-smelling shower gel, happy that the sour smell of bile was leaving him. He also washed his hair with the same product, his reasoning being that it was all the same shit really.

After washing everything off, he decided that he would use a small amount of Karkat's conditioner; after all, he was about to hang out with the king of hair perfection, and he didn't want to look too shit.

Sollux smiled a little as he finished his shower.

Wearing only a short, black towel, Sollux kicked his dirty clothes along the floor as he walked to his room. When he opened the door, he picked up his clothes with his toes and dropped them into the dirty laundry hamper.

His phone lit up and buzzed in his hand.

**'wwell come round wwhenevver you wwant its not like i givve a fuckin shit or anythin**

**but i dont havve any plans today asides from drawwin so any times good wwith me**

**see you soon'**

Sollux grinned stupidly, and reread the text twice before looking for some clean clothes to wear.

-.-.-.-

Eridan looked up from his sketchpad as his phone chimed. He picked it up and read the text with a frown and a playful smile.

**'whatever a22hole, ii only want two get my gla22e2 back or iid never even dream of comiing over**

**but yeah 2ee you iin a biit'**

When Eridan got the first text back, he had struggled to understand the quirk; thankfully Feferi hadn't left yet, and could explain it to him as she remembered Sollux using it all those years ago. Eridan found it quite endearing that Sollux also had a quirk, as he thought that it was only himself and Feferi that still used theirs.

Eridan sighed as he picked up a light blue pencil, the only thing he could do now was wait.


	25. Honey Loops

Okay, firstly I'd like to start with yet another apology for uploading chapters so sporadically! D: ugh, I am just the worst person, I apologise!

I've been absolutely fucked with work and life in general, and sleeping is becoming impossible. But I shouldn't have left you all in the dark, without any clue of what the hell was happening, so I'm really sorry to anyone who has been waiting for an update.

Thank you all for continuing to read, return, favourite, and review this story! It is because of all of you, that I want to write a second and third fanfiction, so thank you all c:

Despite the fact I could apologise for days, I'll just leave you all to read this chapter! (It'll be a long one!) Thank you all once again, you all mean the fucking world to me.

((Props to my best friend, who I dedicate this chapter to. They are the one who I shared the Honey Loops discussion with, in all of the honey-loopy glory!))

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Sollux yawned as he waited on Eridan's doorstep. The sun was criminally bright, and his old sunglasses didn't block the hideous light very effectively. He could hear Eridan making an arse of himself trying to unlock the door, and he smirked.

The door swung open and the smirk was wiped clean off Sollux's face.

Eridan stood tall, looking slightly disheveled but still the very image of perfection. Sollux drank in every detail of him; the faded denim skinny jeans, the short-sleeved fitted mauve shirt with it's shiny buttons, the lack of any rings on his hands, and the black socks. Sollux held back a laugh, he expected Eridan to sleep in a pair of perfect little shoes.

"Are you comin' in, or are you enjoyin' my shitty garden?" Eridan asked, one of his eyebrows arching upwards.

"Why aren't you wearing any shoeth?" Sollux laughed as he climbed the steps, wiping his own feet on the doormat before stepping over the threshold.

Eridan scoffed as he stood aside for him, "well, that would be because nobody is allowed to wear shoes in my house. So take yours off." After closing the door, his hands went firmly on his hips. Sollux noticed that the fingers were covered in colourful smudges.

Sollux rolled his eyes and kicked his shoes off in the general direction of the shoe rack, which earned him a small shriek from Eridan, "there, happy? Now, where are my fu-" Sollux's words caught in his throat as he looked at Eridan. He pulled his sunglasses down a little and tilted his head downwards to get a better look at Eridan's face. "Holy fuck."

"What? What the fuck are you lookin' at?" Eridan huffed defensively, subconsciously bringing a hand up to his own face.

"Your eyeth, ED." Sollux pushed his glasses back into position, "they're blue."

"Oh." Eridan blinked a few times, not knowing how to react, "well you didn't think they were naturally fuckin' purple did you? I mean, I'm glad you did, but... You didn't ever question it?"

Sollux didn't reply, he stared into the bright blue eyes that had lied to him for so long. "They've alwayth been purple, I jutht never gave enough of a shit to athk." He muttered; now that he thought about it, violet eyes _did_ seem a little farfetched, but he couldn't believe that he never thought about it.

Eridan looked around nervously, "wwell wwhy don't wwe get you those sunglasses, an then maybe I can get you a cup of tea or somethin'?" He quickly spun on his heel and strode into living room, with Sollux following closely behind.

"Why are they blue now?" Sollux inquired, obviously unhappy to let the subject drop. He heard Eridan make an exasperated noise, but he ignored it in favour of glancing around the immaculate room.

The three-seater and two-seater sofas were made of plush chocolatey brown leather, as was the armchair. There was a small glass coffee table, currently peppered in Eridan's gold rings, and a gigantic glass tank that covered half of one wall. Sollux looked at Eridan, and was about to repeat the question when he noticed that Eridan was staring intently at a large box of perfectly organised pencils on the table, lifting two almost indistinguishable blue pencils up. After about fifteen seconds, he finally slid them into their correct places in the box, sighing contently, before replacing the lid. "Sorry about that, Sollux, I had to make sure they were in the proper place. Now, you asked me about my eyes being blue?" He stood up again and smiled, "they've always been blue, I just... Wear contacts to make them look purple. I've done it ever since I was about fourteen." He waved a hand as if this was completely normal.

"Okay, but that doesn't exthplain why they're blue _now_." Sollux asked, getting a little frustrated.

Eridan grinned a little peevishly, "I _might've_ fallen asleep with my last pair in when I got home. And they _may_ have kind of dried up a bit. I'll tell you what, I had to peel those fuckers off like you would'nt even believe." He shrugged, then added, "I'm waiting for some new ones to come in the post."

Sollux shook his head, he knew Eridan was vain, but to wear contacts every day to hide his naturally nice-looking eyes was just too much. He sat down on the two seater sofa, and looked at the closed sketchbook on the coffee table, "whatever. Hey can I have a look at your drawingth?" He asked lightly, curious to see what Eridan's work was like.

"No, you bloody can not!" Eridan huffed, his cheeks turning a little pink, "nothin' in here is worth lookin' at, well asides from some a the _coloured_ pieces, but still! There's a lot a shit in there too!" He resisted the urge to throw the book out of the window to stop Sollux from seeing it, feeling very self-conscious.

"Alright, Jethuth tap-danthing Chritht Eridan, I wath only athking! I won't look!" Sollux quickly began formulating a plan of how to get Eridan to leave the room so he could look.

This sudden outburst seemed to satisfy Eridan and he nodded, "good. Yes, well, it's personal. You should be much more delicate when askin' to see someone's art. Anyway, come have a look at this." He offered, turning his attention to the fishtank with a smile.

Sollux's knees popped as he stood up; he joined Eridan at the fishtank, and bent a little to peer inside. The water was crystal-clear, and it appeared to house a plethora of amazingly colourful fishes, which all swam around energetically. He listened as Eridan began pointing them out and explaining their various Latin names, when he suddenly caught a glimpse of something small and white peeking out from some sort of plant.

"Oh! Look!" Eridan squeaked happily, "there he is, there's my little Barbossa!"

The little seahorse swam out, it was gorgeous and delicate looking, and even Sollux smiled a little at it's appearance, "he'th pretty cool."

"He's better than cool." Eridan sniffed indignantly, "he's my pride and joy, aren't you?" He ran a finger soundlessly down the glass, smiling.

They stood together for a few more minutes; Eridan spoke relentlessly about his beloved fish, and to his credit, Sollux listened the entire time. Finally Eridan stopped, "shit, I've been rude, can I get you a cup of tea? Coffee?"

Sollux straightened, and considered it for a moment, "yeah, I'll have a coffee, one sugar, tiny bit of milk. Cheerth." He smiled.

Eridan nodded, "alright, wait here, I'll be back in a minute." He left, whispering Sollux's coffee description under his breath.

This was the moment he had been waiting for; the second Eridan left and closed the door, Sollux grabbed the sketchbook and flopped onto the sofa, opening it gently to the first page. "Fuck." He whispered.

The woman on the first page glared out at him, her teeth bared in a wicked smile, he instantly recognised her as Vriska. Eridan had caught her expression perfectly; there was an unmistakably lifelike glint in those mean, blue eyes. He almost didn't want to turn the page, but he forced himself to, excited to see what else there was. He found himself unable to breathe as he pored over every picture, the pages held the most beautiful sketches he had ever seen, each one so flawless and realistic. He could only blink and occasionally swear, as he looked at every new page; not daring to touch anything more than the corner of the pages for fear of tainting the drawings.

It appeared as though humans; especially faces, expressions and poses were Eridan's strong points, as these were all coloured and some even inked. It became obvious that Eridan wasn't proficient at drawing everything though, as there were a few atrociously badly drawn animals hiding on a few pages. These had been crossed out angrily with thick, black pen lines. Sollux couldn't help but chuckle at them, it was quite comical to see something so badly executed after the perfection of the previous drawings.

Sollux's grin fell as he turned to one of the last pages, his breath froze in his chest and his fingers tingled. He recognised the young man in the sketch; the awkward half-smile, the slightly messed up hair, the gorgeously coloured blue and brown eyes. Those mismatched eyes looked so beautiful on paper. It was obviously a quick memory drawing, but it was good. It was _bloody_ good. It was so good that Sollux could hardly believe that it was drawn from memory. His breath escaped him in a sudden and loud 'whoosh', and he stared at the eyes that were looking off at something else slightly to the right. He finally felt the doubt ebb away; he had always thought that Eridan was humouring him when he complimented his eyes, but now he could finally believe that Eridan saw them as something worth drawing, something worth spending time over, something worth-

"Wwhat the fuck are you doin'?"

Sollux froze, he hadn't heard Eridan open the door. He turned his head to the side, but couldn't come up with an excuse.

Eridan was biting his own lip, a look of pure betrayal etched into his features. He slowly approached Sollux and placed the two mugs onto the table. "Wwell? Wwould you care to explain wwhy you're lookin' at that wwhen I told you not to?" He demanded, his voice quite and low.

Sollux placed the sketchbook gently on the empty seat next to him; he stood up quickly, grabbing Eridan into a rough hug, "shut up, dick-fathe." He muttered. Sollux felt Eridan straighten for a second, not quite understanding what was happening.

"S-Sollux, wwhat are you doin'?" Eridan enquired, as his hands hovered over Sollux's back. "Am I missin' somethin' here? This isn't gunna stop be from bein' any less bloody pissed at you, you knoww."

"I said shut up." Sollux laughed, pressing his face against the crook of Eridan's neck. "Thankth, ED."

Eridan finally slid his arms around Sollux's waist, "alright then, I guess wwe're huggin' noww?" He said, his voice full of confusion.

After awkwardly hugging for a minute or so, they finally pulled apart. "Thorry, I shouldn't have looked." Sollux tried making himself look as innocent as possible, "they're all really good though. The one of me ith amathing."

Eridan quickly pressed his hands over his ears, "lalala, I'm not fuckin' listenin'! Don't talk about my art, lalala, grab the mugs an come to the kitchen, lalafuckin'la!" He quickly left the room, still shouting noises all the way down the hall.

Sollux grabbed the mugs and used his foot to open the door. He followed the corridor, and stepped into the kitchen, where he saw Eridan pulling bowls from a cupboard. "Tho, what are you doing?" Sollux asked as he set the mugs down on the small kitchen table.

Eridan turned around carrying a bowl and spoon in each hand, "well I just realised I haven't eaten yet today, and I'm fuckin' starved." He paused, and looked at the bowls, "I probably shoulda asked you if you wanted somethin' before I got you a bowl down." Eridan looked at Sollux sheepishly, "well, would you like to eat some cereal with me?"

After the fiasco with the Honey Loops that morning, Sollux was hardly in the mood to have his heart broken again, but what else could possibly go wrong with the cereal world? The Coco Pop monkey being changed into a fucking cat? _Not on his fucking watch._ That being said, he _was_ starved, "yeah sure, what kind do you eat?" Sollux narrowed his eyes, it was probably some sort of stupid, organic crap made out of parsnips and carrots.

"Oh, well I have quite literally everythin', come an look." Eridan pulled Sollux's wrist and led him to a double cupboard, opening one side to reveal shelves filled with vacuum-seal plastic tubs. "Those are all different types a cereal, I should probably label them, but Fef empties them so fuckin' quickly I never get a chance to. So, yeah, choose whatever you want." He left Sollux to have a look as he went to get the milk.

Sollux pulled the boxes out one-by-one, only opening the ones he didn't recognise, he grinned when he found one filled with granola. It wasn't even the kind with the chocolate bits in it, typical hipster. Eridan wasn't lying when he said he had everything though, there were more types than Sollux could even name, but one box caught his eye.

The clear container was filled with the treacherous Honey Loops; Sollux removed it from the shelf with a sneer, "hey ED, what did you think of the bee they put on the Honey Loop boxth?" He asked, shaking the tub angrily.

"What bee? Are you talkin' about some knock-off brand or somethin'?" Eridan replied, "because I only buy the real deal with cereals, me an Fef can taste the difference."

Sollux wrinkled his nose, "no, the real oneth have a fucking cartoony ball-bag of a bee on the front. _You_ mutht be buying the knock-offth, ED."

Eridan stormed past the fridge and opened a narrow door, he stepped inside, and returned a few seconds later with a box of Honey Loops. "Where's the fucking bee, you prat?" He asked as he turned the box to show all of the sides, and Sollux nearly wept.

"Thothe, thothe are the old Honey Loopth!" He exclaimed, grabbing them out of Eridan's hands and cradling them to his chest along with the half-filled tub.

"I didn't realise they changed them, but I haven't bought any in weeks, I just stockpile whenever I'm runnin' low. Here, look." Eridan motioned for Sollux to look in his pantry.

The pantry was full of food, and Sollux's mouth dropped open as he peeked in. The shelves were covered in various cans and boxes, but cereal took up half of the stock, there had to be five or six boxes of each type. "Oh my fuck!" Sollux shouted as he saw four more boxes of his beloved Honey Loops on a low shelf; quickly gathering them in his arms as if they were his children, and hugging them protectively.

"You alright there?" Eridan asked, taking a step closer.

"Yeth I fucking am!" Sollux hunched over his loot and waddled out of the pantry, gently laying the boxes on the table, and staring breathlessly at them.

"Do they really mean that much to you? It's just Honey Loops." Eridan raised an eyebrow and smiled, thinking that Sollux's display was quite sweet.

Sollux sat down and lovingly stood each box up, "thith morning KK gave me thome Honey Loopth and they were dithguthting. They changed the rethipe, and they put a fucking wank-thtain of a bee on the boxth." He said bitterly, "but you have the old oneth, the good oneth. I'm having breakfatht here every day until they run out." Sollux turned to look at Eridan; an arm hooked around the boxes protectively.

"You _can_ take them home with you, if you want to." Eridan smiled, "if they really mean that much to you, then take them." He shrugged, and turned to choose something for himself.

Eridan nearly screamed when he felt Sollux grab him, his mouth fell open and his eyebrows shot up as Sollux's arms wrapped themselves around his chest. "S-Sol, wwhat are you-"

Sollux's voice was quiet, his face was pressed against the back of Eridan's head, "I hate change, ED. I fucking hate change, and I hate not being able to prepare mythelf for thomething that'th going to dithappear forever. You can't underthtand what you've jutht done for me." He squeezed Eridan a little, their bodies pressed together, "thank you. Thith actually meanth a fuck-load."

Eridan's face turned pink, he struggled to find any words, and it took him a moment to compose himself, "you're wwelcome Sol, but you know that they'll run out too. You're goin' to have to face a Honey Loop-less world eventually."

"Yeah, but I know that it'th coming now, and thith way, I can deal with it in my own time." After a pause, Sollux added, "tho shut up." He finally let Eridan go, and sat down, pouring himself a bowl of Honey Loops from the open container.

Eridan cleared his throat before grabbing the granola, "yes wwell, I guess I can understand that." He sat at the table and poured himself some milk, smiling at Sollux.

Sollux's own smile disappeared as he grabbed the carton off Eridan, "what the fuck are you doing?" He poured milk on top of his Honey Loops, never taking his eyes off Eridan's bowl of milk.

"This is how I eat cereal." Eridan muttered, as he tipped a small amount of granola into the milk.

Sollux sighed a little with happiness when he ate the first spoonful. With a mouth full of food, he narrowed his eyes, "thith ith fucking deliciouth. And you're an idiot."

"It stops it from gettin' fuckin' soggy!" Eridan huffed, "i just add a little bit more to the bowl every time I finish what I eat!"

Sollux rolled his eyes, "what the fuck ith wrong with you? You're thuppothed to tilt the bowl tho you can control what'th in the milk. Then ath you eat the thereal, more fallth into the milk and shit. It'th all about phythicth my friend." Sollux turned his nose up, "what you're trying to do ith play God."

"I don't tell you how to live your life!" Eridan scolded. They continued to eat in silence, glaring at eachother with playful smirks.

Sollux tilted his head side to side happily and tapped his feet as he ate. He looked into Eridan's bowl, "what are you eating anyway?"

"Uhh, some sort of multigrain granola shit, it's pretty good."

Sollux's nostrils flared, "multigrain my ath!" He jumped as his phone buzzed in his pocket, he pulled it out and stared at the screen, "heh, lookth like KK hath thtarted to mith me. He'th athking if I've done my homework athignment. And wouldn't you know it, I have not."

Eridan rested his chin on of his hands, "I guess you'll be going then?" He couldn't hide the disappointment in his voice.

"I can come round again whenever you want," Sollux offered, finishing his bowl of Honey Loops with a very satisfied look. "I wouldn't mind coming over again thoon." He held Eridan's gaze and shrugged.

"Well, I'll be happy to have you over whenever, maybe next time I'll cook you something instead of just feedin' you this shit." Eridan grinned. He was about to start packing up when Sollux reached out a hand, and pulled him into a kiss.

Their lips met gently, and Eridan instantly melted, sighing as his chest fluttered. He had purposefully avoided the subject of the night before, just in case Sollux couldn't remember what they had done, but this settled his nerves.

They pulled apart, and Sollux grinned, "shit, lookth like we're thtuck with eachother." After a breif pause, he added, "maybe I should've athked you in latht night."

"Fuckin' hell Sol, I'm gunna give you cereal more often!" Eridan mumbled, his cheeks bright pink. "But what do you mean 'stuck with eachother'? You're fuckin' privileged to have me interested in you like this!"

Sollux snorted, "yeah, yeah, courthe I am, ED." He leant forwards and pressed his lips against Eridan's once again, "but I'm like a thtray cat, you've fed me, now I won't leave you." He laughed again, and Eridan couldn't help but laugh with him.

Eridan began tidying up while Sollux wrote a text to Karkat, he put the five boxes of Honey Loops into a carrier bag, and handed them over, "you can have all of them, but this one," he held up the airtight container, "will stay here, for the next time you come over."

"Deal. Hey, are you going to show me to the door like a gentleman?" Sollux stood and left the room with a grin to retreive his shoes. Eridan followed, afterall, he _was_ a gentleman.

"Hey Sol, thanks for comin' over." Eridan said as he passed Sollux and grabbed a pair of sunglasses from top of the key-hook next to the front door. He stepped closer to Sollux and hooked a finger around the bulky glasses he was wearing and pulled them from his face. "Here, these ones are nicer anyway." Eridan pressed both pairs of sunglasses into Sollux's hands, and stared into his eyes.

Sollux held Eridan's gaze with a new confidence, he smiled and nodded, allowing Eridan to get a good look at his eyes before putting his newer glasses on, "you know, ED, your real eyeth look better than your contactth." He opened the front door, then turned back to Eridan. They shared one last kiss, that seemed to make the whole world crumble.

"Damn it Sol, what are you doin' to me?" Eridan muttered with fake annoyance when he pulled away.

"Nothing at all today, ED. But maybe I'll come back in the week..?" Sollux hid behind his bag as Eridan slapped his arm.

"Sollux, don't assume that shit about me! Fuck, you'll talk your wway outta evverythin' I'll evver be wwillin' to do!" Eridan scolded, trying to keep his expression as serious as possible. He frowned as Sollux kissed his forehead and left.

"I'll textht you later, and maybe we can arrange to hang out again?" He called from Eridan's gate.

"Fuck off, you bell-end." Eridan replied, smiling. He grinned like a child as he watched Sollux wave and walk away, then he closed the door and locked it, checking it three times, before running to his phone to give Feferi a call.

Sollux barely restrained himself from either skipping or screaming; his chest felt as though it would burst, and he felt happier than he had done in months. Nothing could drag him down from this high. Nothing.

When a familiar voice called out, he nearly broke. Within the space of a second his stomach sank and his body went numb.

"Sollux? Is that you?"


End file.
